The Debt of Standing Alone — Ember of Midgard — Nordic Folk Rock

Lyrics [Intro] [Heavy drums, distorted melodic guitars, tagelharpa and low horns immediately] I built my name from iron words, I carved them deep in timber grain, “No hand shall carry what is mine, No voice shall hear me speak of pain.” The hammer struck, the rafters held, I thought that meant I stood complete. But every wall I raised too high Left fewer footsteps at my feet. [Verse 1] When winter pressed against the door, I barred it shut and fed the cold. They came with bread, they came with hands, I sent them back into the snow. I wore my silence like a shield, Mistook my distance for command. And every bridge I would not cross Was one less road beneath my stand. [Pre-Chorus] Stone can bear the weight awhile, Oak can bend before it breaks. A man can swear he needs no one Until he sees the price it takes. [Chorus] There is a debt to standing alone, A weight no shoulder makes its own. Pride builds a tower, stone by stone, Then leaves you there when all are gone. So take my hand, I know it now, Strength is more than keeping proud. No shame remains in being known— I’ve paid the debt of standing alone. [Verse 2] I watched a friendship turn to dust Because I would not say, “I’m wrong.” I let an old and faithful bond Die quietly to keep me strong. And when the roof began to fail, I climbed beneath it on my own. One beam gave way, then two, then three— The house revealed what pride had grown. [Pre-Chorus] Iron rusts beneath the rain, Leather splits when pulled too tight. Even mountains shed their stone; Nothing stands through endless night. [Chorus] There is a debt to standing alone, A weight no shoulder makes its own. Pride builds a tower, stone by stone, Then leaves you there when all are gone. So take my hand, I know it now, Strength is more than keeping proud. No shame remains in being known— I’ve paid the debt of standing alone. [Instrumental Folk Rock Break] [Massive drums and deep bass drive forward. Tagelharpa introduces a dark rhythmic motif. Nyckelharpa answers with a soaring melody. Heavy guitars double the melody, then split into harmonized lines. Low horns punctuate the rhythm while the Nordic choir chants wordlessly. The section builds into a powerful guitar/nyckelharpa unison before dropping back into the bridge.] [Bridge] I went back down the frozen road To every door I closed before. No grand excuse, no polished speech, Just truth laid bare upon the floor. “I thought that needing made me small. I thought that silence made me strong. I carried everything alone— And carried half of it all wrong.” Then someone laughed and pulled me in, Someone placed a cup nearby. No throne was lost, no honor died. The roof stayed standing through the night. [Build] Let the old walls fall away. Let another shoulder stay. What we carry, what we mend, Does not make us less in the end. [Final Chorus] There is a debt to standing alone, A weight no shoulder makes its own. Pride builds a tower, stone by stone, Then leaves you there when all are gone. So take my hand, I know it now, Strength is more than keeping proud. No shame remains in being known— I’ve paid the debt of standing alone. [Nordic choir joins full force] HAND TO HAND! STONE TO STONE! NONE OF US MUST BEAR IT ALONE! HAND TO HAND! VOICE TO VOICE! STRENGTH CAN ALSO BE A CHOICE! [Outro] I still can carry my own load, I still can walk the harder road. But when the timber starts to groan, I will not stand there all alone. [Tagelharpa, heavy guitars and choir end together on one massive final chord.]