Saint Of The Aurorian Mile

[Intro | crystal bell melody of four falling notes, north-wind pad, 8-bit water line answering the bell] [Choir, hummed, in harmony] Ah—ah—ah— the water has teeth. [Verse 1 | legato, almost pretty, wind under the vocal like a second melody] The river ran black without a rain The burned tower held its breath A north wind stepped across the stain And promised me a death Of every mark I could not keep I thought I found a door I didn’t hear the current leap I only asked for more [Pre-Chorus | choir lifts into a real tune, still gentle] Don’t bless the spring that finds you Don’t praise the wind that waits It only loves the living stain Still clinging in your chest [Chorus | singable hymn: long vowels, aurora choir on the name] Suicune, Suicune Saint of the aurora mile You wear a morning like a veil And smile a water smile Suicune, Suicune Mercy made of clear You teach the lost to want a washing Then take the ones still here [Verse 2 | same legato, 8-bit line a third above the vocal] They find them kneeling at the lip With faces clean as glass Their mouths still shaped around a hymn The river will not pass July can muddy every shore This circle will not stain A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Inside a rinsed-out name [Pre-Chorus | crystal bell answers each line] Don’t look too long into the crest One jewel, one old law If you can see your own last mark You’re already the thaw [Chorus | wider harmony, still a song not a sermon] Suicune, Suicune Saint of the aurora mile You wear a morning like a veil And smile a water smile Suicune, Suicune Mercy made of clear You teach the lost to want a washing Then take the ones still here [Verse 3 | quieter, more melody in the hush, wind almost a lullaby] It doesn’t hunt along the ground It hunts the need to clean It waits until you beg the north To take the fire from the scene It drinks the ash before the flesh It files you with the light It leaves a lakeshore like a church And leaves you too polite [Chorus | bigger: choir takes a countermelody, 8-bit line soars then does not resolve] Suicune, Suicune Blue chapel, no way home You fold a body into “pure” And wear it while you roam Suicune, Suicune Aurora learned a tune You leave the river quieter And hungrier too soon [Bridge | sung, not spoken — held notes, choir under the words like a hymn verse] The water was never kind. The water was a mouth. You did not come to be forgiven. You came to be removed. Run. Rinse. Hold. The saint does not hate the stain. The saint is the stain learning how to leave and taking you with it. [Final Chorus | fullest melody in the cycle, then the bell melody from the intro returns unfinished] Suicune, Suicune Saint of the aurora mile You wear a morning like a veil And smile a water smile Suicune, Suicune Say it if you dare The aurora bows. [Outro | four falling crystal notes, the last one never arrives, wind holds]