[Intro | cracked temple bell, 8-bit glass arpeggio, choir on a bent rainbow vowel] [Choir, hummed] Ah—ah—ah— the rainbow has teeth. [Verse 1 | sung, low] The tower burned without a war The sky put on a crown A seven-colored wing said “more” And laid the ashes down I followed light across the soot I thought I found a door I didn’t hear the blessing root I only asked for more [Pre-Chorus | sung, rising] Don’t bless the bird that finds you Don’t praise the fire that waits It only loves the living grief Still smoking in your chest [Chorus | lead + rainbow choir] Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Saint of the returned mile You wear a rainbow like a lie And smile a funeral smile Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Mercy made of flame You teach the lost to want them back Then take them back the same [Verse 2 | sung] They find the bodies standing up With color in the eyes Their mouths still open from a hymn The dead already know The rain can wash the lower town This circle will not fade A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Inside a borrowed name [Pre-Chorus] Don’t look too long into the crest Seven glass that learned to pray If you can taste your own last love You’re already the prey [Chorus] Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Saint of the returned mile You wear a rainbow like a lie And smile a funeral smile Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Mercy made of flame You teach the lost to want them back Then take them back the same [Verse 3 | sung, quieter] It doesn’t hunt along the ground It hunts the need to mend It waits until you beg the sky To give you back a friend It drinks the grief before the flesh It files you with the light It leaves a rainbow like a church To keep you in the night [Bridge | choir sung] [Choir] A sacred bird, the stories wrote That raises what was slain They printed it in children’s books So no one thinks of pain [Lead, sung] That line was never written kind It wasn’t made to warn It was a hunting call in rhyme For anyone still warm [Chorus | bigger] Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Gold chapel, no way home You fold a body into glass And wear it while you roam Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Ashes learned a tune You leave the tower quieter And hungrier too soon [Final Chorus | lead + full choir] Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Saint of the returned mile You wear a rainbow like a lie And smile a funeral smile Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh Say it if you dare The colors bow. The bird looks in. It already knows you’re there. [Outro | sung, thinning] [Lead] If the light begins to carry A voice you almost know— [Choir] Don’t look up. Don’t look up. That’s how the gospel gets in. [Lead, fading] Ho-Oh… [Choir, last held note] …still hungry.
