I Carry the North

[Voice : Low, rugged baritone

spoken than sung in the verses,

selective, grounded harmony, not full choral stacking]

Verse 1

I was raised by wind and stone

Learned to stand before I’d grown

Steel was scarce, but will was not

I took the path the weak ones lost

Verse

I sailed where maps were torn and burned

Every mile a lesson learned

Storms don’t care if men are brave

They only ask what they can take

Chorus

I carry the North in flesh and bone

In every scar I’ve ever known

I don’t ask gods to walk my way

I walk it straight, come night or day

Verse

I fought in fields that drank men dry

Watched good men kneel and cowards die

Victory smells like smoke and fear

Not songs and gold and drinking cheer

Verse

I loved once, but war came first

A colder vow, a heavier curse

Her name still walks me through the snow

Some roads you never leave, you know

Chorus

I carry the North in flesh and bone

In every scar I’ve ever known

I don’t ask gods to walk my way

I walk it straight, come night or day

Bridge (Quiet / Spoken)

Some faces fade.

Some stay sharp.

Night remembers

What the day forgets.

Chorus

I carry the North in flesh and bone

In every scar I’ve ever known

I don’t ask gods to walk my way

I walk it straight, come night or day