04. The Naming

Opening chant (layered rounds) (low, building) I name myself I name myself I name myself by what I've carried and what I've laid down and what I chose to keep Verse 1 I have been the unnamed country I have been the pale signal I have been the glass and the feral and the burning and the soil I have been the unnamed for a very long time — and today in this place in this body that has rested and raged and returned — I am giving myself a name The Naming (sung, slowly, ceremonially) I am the one who broke and stayed I am the one who burned and grew I am the one who came back through the unnamed country and named it and named it and named it I am the glass marrow I am the feral hymn I am the quiet enormous thing that I have always been Chorus The naming is not given the naming is not found — the naming is the moment you hear yourself make sound and recognise the voice and recognise the face and say: yes that is mine I claim this I claim this place Verse 2 The unnamed country has a name now it is mine and it is long and it contains the thornfield and the archive and the wound and the orbit and the threshold and the lake and the root — it contains all three albums and it answers to the truth Bridge (choral, full voices) Say your name (echo: say your name) Say your name to the dark (echo: say it to the dark) Say your name to the burning (echo: to the burning) Say your name to the rain (echo: to the rain) Say your name to the morning (echo: to the morning) Say it until it fits Say it until it fits Say it until — Outro (whispered) My name is — (silence) (and the silence is full)