[Intro | music box + 8-bit wind + soft choir vowels] [Choir, hummed] Ah—ah—ah— the cold knows how to sing. [Verse 1 | sung, low female vocal] I lost the trail when dusk turned white The mountain closed its throat A blue wing cut the dying light And left a silver note I thought I heard a chapel bell I thought I heard a prayer But every flake that on me fell Was counting what I wear [Pre-Chorus | sung, rising] Don’t thank the light that finds you Don’t praise the bird that waits It only loves the living heat Still smoking on your face [Chorus | sung lead + icy choir] Articuno, Articuno Saint of the frozen mile You open like a hymn of glass And smile a winter smile Articuno, Articuno Mercy with a blade You teach the lost to kneel and sing Then take the song they made [Verse 2 | sung] They kneel in rows along the ridge With eyes like milk and ice Their hands still lifted toward the sky As if it might be nice July can burn the valley raw The circle will not thaw A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Inside a hollow jaw [Pre-Chorus] Don’t look too long into the crest Three diamonds, three old graves If you can see your own last breath You’re already its slave [Chorus] Articuno, Articuno Saint of the frozen mile You open like a hymn of glass And smile a winter smile Articuno, Articuno Mercy with a blade You teach the lost to kneel and sing Then take the song they made [Verse 3 | sung, quieter] It never runs. It never screams. It never has to chase. It waits until your blood gets slow And prayer becomes a taste It drinks the name before the flesh It files you with the snow It hangs a statue on the pass To show the next one where to go [Bridge | choir sung, not spoken] [Choir] A legendary bird, they wrote Appears when hope is thin They printed it in children’s books So no one thinks to run from it [Lead, sung] That line was never written kind It wasn’t made to warn It was a hunting call in rhyme For anyone still warm [Chorus | bigger, still sung] Articuno, Articuno Blue chapel, no way home You fold a body like a coat And wear it while you roam Articuno, Articuno Frost that learned a tune You leave the mountain quieter And hungrier too soon [Final Chorus | lead + full choir] Articuno, Articuno Saint of the frozen mile You open like a hymn of glass And smile a winter smile Articuno, Articuno Say it if you dare The blizzard bows. The bird looks down. It already knows you’re there. [Outro | sung, thinning to choir] [Lead] If the wind begins to carry A voice you almost know— [Choir] Don’t look up. Don’t look up. That’s how the hymn gets in. [Lead, fading] Articuno… [Choir, last held note] …still hungry.
