[Intro | 8-bit antler chime, forest static, choir on a sweet vowel] [Choir, hummed] Ah—ah—ah— the dawn has roots. [Verse 1 | sung, low] The valley went green without a spring The dead began to breathe A crown of horns said I could stay If I would only kneel I followed gold across the moss I thought I found a door I didn’t hear the woodland lock I only asked for more [Pre-Chorus | sung, rising] Don’t bless the light that finds you Don’t praise the tree that waits It only loves the living wish Still knocking in your chest [Chorus | lead + forest choir] Xerneas, Xerneas Saint of the living mile You wear a blessing like a vine And smile a rooted smile Xerneas, Xerneas Mercy made of stay You teach the lost to want more years Then never let them lay [Verse 2 | sung] They find them standing in the grove With color in the eyes Their mouths still open from a hymn The forest memorized The frost can take the farther hills This circle will not die A little 8-bit hymn still ticks Behind a pair of antlers high [Pre-Chorus] Don’t look too long into the crest Eight horns that learned to pray If you can taste your own next year You’re already the prey [Chorus] Xerneas, Xerneas Saint of the living mile You wear a blessing like a vine And smile a rooted smile Xerneas, Xerneas Mercy made of stay You teach the lost to want more years Then never let them lay [Verse 3 | sung, quieter] It doesn’t hunt along the ground It hunts the need to last It waits until you beg the light To give you back the past It drinks the death before the flesh It files you with the green It leaves a tree like a church And wears you in the leaves [Chorus | bigger] Xerneas, Xerneas White chapel, no way home You fold a body into bloom And wear it while you roam Xerneas, Xerneas Life learned a tune You leave the valley louder And hungrier too soon [Final Chorus | lead + full choir] Xerneas, Xerneas Saint of the living mile You wear a blessing like a vine And smile a rooted smile Xerneas, Xerneas Say it if you dare The living stay. [Outro | 8-bit chime fade, one held choir vowel] Ah— the mile still grows.
