[Intro | 8-bit sonar, cracked radio, choir on one held vowel] [Choir, hummed] Ah—ah—ah— the first word has teeth. [Verse 1 | sung, low] Before the map there was a wheel Before the wheel, a name A pale thing stepped into the real And taught the dark to pray I asked it for a place to start I thought I found a door I didn’t hear the silence laugh I only asked for more [Pre-Chorus | sung, rising] Don’t bless the light that names you Don’t praise the shape that waits It only loves the living wish Still knocking in your chest [Chorus | lead + cathedral choir] Arceus, Arceus Saint of the first mile You wear a genesis like silk And smile a judgment smile Arceus, Arceus Mercy made of law You teach the lost to say “begin” Then take the breath they draw [Verse 2 | sung] They find no bodies in the dawn The dawn is not the point The hymns go out in single file With gold still in the joint The world can turn a thousand years This circle will not close A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Behind a ring of gold [Pre-Chorus] Don’t look too long into the wheel A thousand plates of prayer If you can hear your own first name You’re already the fare [Chorus] Arceus, Arceus Saint of the first mile You wear a genesis like silk And smile a judgment smile Arceus, Arceus Mercy made of law You teach the lost to say “begin” Then take the breath they draw [Verse 3 | sung, quieter] It doesn’t hunt along the ground It hunts the need to start It waits until you beg a god To write you on the chart It drinks the wish before the flesh It files you with the dark It leaves a garden like a church To mark you as the ark [Bridge | choir sung] [Choir] An original one, they wrote That made the sea and sun They printed it in children’s books So no one thinks to run [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] Arceus, Arceus White chapel, no way home You fold a body into myth And wear it while you roam Arceus, Arceus Origin learned a tune You leave the first day quieter And hungrier too soon [Final Chorus | lead + full choir] Arceus, Arceus Saint of the first mile You wear a genesis like silk And smile a judgment smile Arceus, Arceus Say it if you dare The wheel turns once. The first look in. It already knows you’re there. [Outro | sung, thinning] [Lead] If the quiet 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] Arceus… [Choir, last held note] …still hungry.
