[Intro | cracked music box, solo violin, cello drone, 8-bit shield tick, choir on an ugly vowel] [Choir, hummed] Ah—ah—ah— the shield has teeth. [Verse 1 | sung, low, cello under the gate, violin in a low iron line] The gate went red without a knock The iron began to lean A red wolf opened in the wall And said the keep was clean I came to stand behind the plate I came to hold the town I thought the shelter was the end I thought the end was sound The rim was colder than the street The bolts were in the stone A voice the size of buried crowds Said I could hold my own [Pre-Chorus | sung, rising, violin climbing, no comfort] Don't bless the wall that finds you Don't praise the wolf that waits It only loves the living crowd Still breathing in the gate [Chorus | lead + iron choir, cello on the title, violin answering the last line] Zamazenta, Zamazenta Saint of the shield mile You wear a shelter like Sunday clothes And smile a bolted smile Zamazenta, Zamazenta Mercy made of wall You teach the lost to hide behind Then be the ones who fall [Verse 2 | sung, strings closer, chip tick like a slow brace] They find them packed against the gate With hands still on the rim Their mouths still open from a cheer The cheer is keeping them A blue wolf waits out in the wood And does not take the door The red one bows, the red one stays The staying is the floor A city can rebuild the arch A child can learn the lean This circle will not let them out It is bracing now [Pre-Chorus | violin higher, cello unwilling] Don't look too long into the plate One shield, one open grave If you can feel the bolts go tight You're already its slave [Chorus | lead + choir, fuller strings] Zamazenta, Zamazenta Saint of the shield mile You wear a shelter like Sunday clothes And smile a bolted smile Zamazenta, Zamazenta Mercy made of wall You teach the lost to hide behind Then be the ones who fall [Verse 3 | sung, quieter, cello alone, violin thin] It doesn't hunt along the road It hunts the need to be kept It waits until you call it safety And answers from the step The rain can cover half the town The town will not forget A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Inside a bolted bit It drinks the cheer before the flesh It files you with the iron It leaves a shield still on the arm To show the next one what you were [Chorus | bigger, choir stacked, violin answering every other line, still not triumphant] Zamazenta, Zamazenta Red chapel, no way home You fold a body into wall And wear it while you roam Zamazenta, Zamazenta Shelter learned a tune You leave the city quieter And hungrier too soon [Bridge | spoken over one held cello note, violin barely there, 8-bit tick slow] A shield does not save the crowd. A shield decides which crowd is the door. Zacian kept the stroke. Zamazenta kept the gate. You stood behind it. You were the bracing. The wolf does not hate the guarded. The wolf is the guard when someone asked the iron to be holy again. The hiding was the meal. [Drop | no beat drop — choir, cello drone, violin tremolo, chip tick stacking] Hold. Hold. Hold. Brace. Brace. Brace. The saint does not cover. The saint is wearing cover. Fall. Fall. The rim remembers every shoulder that took it. [Verse 4 | sung, low, almost spoken-sung, strings under] I felt the bolt go through my wrist I felt the arch agree The red wolf turned, the blue wolf watched And saved a brace for me If someone else should find the gate And ask the wall to stay Tell them the shelter is already full Tell them the iron is the way [Final Chorus | lead + full choir, violin and cello with the choir, still not triumphant] Zamazenta, Zamazenta Saint of the shield mile You wear a shelter like Sunday clothes And smile a bolted smile Zamazenta, Zamazenta Say it if you dare The gate bows. [Outro | cello drone holds, 8-bit shield tick does not stop, violin stops first, choir on the ugly vowel] Ah—ah—ah— the shield stays shut. Ah—ah—ah— the shield stays shut. The next one is already bracing.
