[Intro] [Mood: Crawling, Desolate] [Instrument: Solo Cello, Low and Sustained, Wind] [Vocal Style: Whispered, Fragmented] Stone waiting Grey water (Síos, síos, síos) Bone showing [Verse 1] [Energy: Minimal, Sparse] [Instrument: Cello, Minimal Piano Notes] [Vocal: Intimate, Almost Speaking] Seven kings beneath the hill Seven springs that couldn't fill This hollow where my heart wore thin My apron dropped the mountains here My tears carved lakes that won't run clear Now frost lives underneath my skin ( Cailleach, Cailleach) [Pre-Chorus] [Mood: Recognition Building] [Instrument: Piano Adds Sparse Chords, Strings Begin Entering] The maidens dance (I count my scars) The maidens sing (I am the winter that remains) [Chorus] [Energy: Medium, Haunting] [Instrument: Piano, Cello, Atmospheric Strings] [Vocal: Sustained, Weathered Power] This is the veiled tide Ebb that will not turn I am stone now Stone learns how to burn With cold that never softens This is the veiled tide ( Síos go deo, síos go deo) Watch me become the frost Watch me become the frost [Verse 2] [Energy: Slightly Building] [Instrument: Piano, Cello, Bodhrán Pulse Enters Faintly] [Vocal: More Present, Direct] Fifty children from this womb Fifty names on fifty tombs While I persist like bitter root The veil came white from Cummine's hand A century I marked this land In linen meant for holy work ( Cailleach na Beara, Cailleach na Beara) But I was never holy [Pre-Chorus] [Mood: Tension Rising] [Instrument: All Elements Building] The maidens bloom (I shed and shed) The maidens glow (I am the winter that remains) [Chorus] [Energy: Growing Intensity] [Instrument: Full Arrangement, Strings Swelling] [Vocal: Powerful, Defiant Edge] This is the veiled tide Ebb that will not turn I am stone now Stone learns how to burn With cold that never softens This is the veiled tide (Síos go deo, níl aon dul siar) Watch me become the frost Watch me become— [Bridge - TORCH SONG MOMENT] [Energy: MAXIMUM, Clawing Upward to Crescendo] [Instrument: Strings Like Blizzard, Piano Hammering, Bodhrán Driving] [Vocal: RAW BELT, Unleashed Power] [Mood: Fierce, Defiant, Then Breaking] I WAS THE LAND'S OWN HEARTBEAT I SHAPED CLIFFS WITH MY RAGE I LEAPT ACROSS THE BAYS WHEN MY THIGHS WERE THUNDER ( primal keening, wordless) I BORE EMPIRES I BURIED EMPIRES I AM THE STONE THEY BUILD THEIR PRAYERS ON (strings reach peak, then suddenly cut) And now... [Verse 3 - Collapse] [Energy: Falling, Fragmenting] [Instrument: Solo Piano, Strings Fade to Nothing] [Vocal: Broken, Whispered] Now I wait At the edge of my own cliff For the tide I know Will not return (backing: faint, distant - Cailleach...) [Final Chorus - Transformed] [Energy: Quiet Acceptance, Sinking] [Instrument: Minimal Piano, Cello, Wind Increasing] [Vocal: Exhausted Dignity] This is the veiled tide Winter claims its own I am stone now Let stone be What remains when beauty's gone This is the veiled... (síos...síos...) [Outro - Decay to Silence] [Energy: Dissolving] [Instrument: Wind, Single Piano Note Dying] [Vocal: Fragmenting to Breath] Stone... Waiting... Grey... (single exhaled word, barely audible) ...veiled [End - Wind, Silence]
