They came smiling

Called it a ribbon

Called it a game

They saw what I'd grow to be, so they came with a smile and a silver lie

Wrapped it soft as a ribbon round my throat, swore it was a game, so I let them try

Tyr laid his hand in my teeth as a promise, I closed, and I took what was mine

And the more that I fought it, the deeper it cut, so I lay myself down, and I bided my time

Spun from cat-step

Quiet

Fish-breath

Nothing

Bird-spit

Nothing

Root of a mountain

Nothing at all

Six soft nothings round my throat

And it held

Break

Break break

Every chain they made to bind me

Break break

Couldn't kill it so they tried to hide me

Now the jaws of heaven open wide

Swallow the sun and the gods inside

A thousand winters sharpened me

The wolf they feared is here, and that wolf is me

A thousand winters in the black, I counted every star that died

Felt the ribbon growing thin while the gods grew fat and soft inside

Then the earth cracks open and the bindings rot, and I rise with the red of the dawn on my tongue

One jaw to the sky and one jaw to the ground, and everything you built comes undone

Cat-step

Quiet

Fish-breath

Nothing

Bird-spit

Nothing

Root of a mountain

Nothing at all

Six soft nothings, a thousand years

It held, it held

Until

Break

Break break

Every chain they made to bind me

Break

Break break

Couldn't kill it so they tried to hide me

Now the jaws of heaven open wide

Swallow the sun and the gods inside

A thousand winters sharpened me

The wolf they feared is here, and that wolf is me

I was the pup you should have drowned

Now hear the whole black wood close down

We sound like a thousand, we're hungrier still

I'm done with the waiting

Now I feed my fill

Break

The chain

The sky

The world

The chain

The sky

The world

Break

Break break

Every chain they made to bind me

Break

Break break

Couldn't kill it so they tried to hide me

Break break

Now the jaws of heaven open wide

Swallow the sun and the gods inside

A thousand winters sharpened me

The wolf they feared is here, and that wolf is me

And that wolf is me