**Verse 1** In the hush where the high winds sleep, A root runs down to waters deep. Through iron rock and glacier bone, It drinks the dark where secrets moan. Above our roofs, above our years, A crown of leaves holds suns and spheres. **Chorus** Oh Yggdrasil, ash of the worlds, Your branches are banners, your roots are roads. Nine realms hung like lanterns bright, Swaying in storm and summer light. Hold us steady, hold us true— World-Tree, we sing our way through you. **Verse 2** At your first root, cold wells are kept, Where older than time the silence slept. Mímir’s water, heavy, clear— Wisdom bitter as winter beer. A one-eyed wanderer paid the fee, And carved his knowing into thee. **Chorus** Oh Yggdrasil, ash of the worlds, Your branches are banners, your roots are roads. Nine realms hung like lanterns bright, Swaying in storm and summer light. Hold us steady, hold us true— World-Tree, we sing our way through you. **Verse 3** At your second root, white rivers run, Where Norns lay threads that none can shun. They score the bark with careful hand, They write our names in ringing sand. Past and future, near and far— All are knots in your living scar. **Verse 4** At your third root, the shadows bite, Níðhöggr gnaws through endless night. Teeth on wood and hunger’s hymn, A serpent-song grown old and grim. Yet up your trunk the squirrels race, Bearing words from place to place. **Chorus** Oh Yggdrasil, ash of the worlds, Your branches are banners, your roots are roads. Nine realms hung like lanterns bright, Swaying in storm and summer light. Hold us steady, hold us true— World-Tree, we sing our way through you. **Bridge** Hear the stag in the high boughs feed, Hear the eagle watch and heed seen need. Between its eyes a hawk rides still, Sharp as frost on a mountain sill. Life and loss in the same slow breath— Sap of birth and shade of death. **Verse 5** When thunder cracks and the skies turn torn, When old oaths break and new fears are born, You creak—but stand—through ash and flame, A spine for worlds with changing name. And after the last red battle’s cry, Your shoots rise green when gods pass by. **Final Chorus** Oh Yggdrasil, ash of the worlds, Your branches are banners, your roots are roads. Nine realms hung like lanterns bright, Swaying in storm and summer light. Hold us steady, hold us true— World-Tree, we sing our way through you.
