Iron Lullaby

*(Intro - Soft fingerpicking, melancholic)* The blacksmith’s boy was born in flame, With a hammer’s weight and his father’s name, But the sword he forged sang a different tune— A hymn of hunger, a wolfish moon. *(Verse 1 - Slow build, ominous)* He walked through fields where the wheat grew red, Where the crows grew fat on the battle-fed, And the wind would whisper, low and grim, "Boy of the forge, the war’s your hymn." *(Chorus - Swelling, darkly triumphant)* Oh, lay me down in the iron lullaby, Where the steel won’t weep and the dead don’t cry, I’ll drink my fill from the river’s rust, And call the crows when the field turns dust. *(Verse 2 - Faster, urgent)* They crowned him king in a broken hall, With a broken oath and a bloodied shawl, And the throne he took was a butcher’s block, Where the widows wove from the raven’s flock. *(Bridge - Haunting, whispered)* Some say he prays when the night is long, But the prayers he speaks are a soldier’s song— "Give me the blade that won’t forget, Give me the war that’s raging yet." *(Verse 3 - Somber, resigned)* Now the blacksmith sleeps ‘neath the anvil’s weight, And the sword still sings at the castle gate, And the boy who was, and the god he became, Are one and the same in the ash and flame. *(Chorus - Repeat, swelling again)* *(Verse 4 - Spoken, over fading guitar)* The blacksmith’s boy is the war’s own son, And the war’s not done, No, the war’s not done... *(Outro - Soft, fading)* Lay me down where the crows still fly, Sing me home with the iron lullaby.