Jörmungandr

Intro

(Tail-biter! Tail-biter!)

Cast into the deep before I could see —

(Hu-ha!) Óðinn's hands — infant — thrown into the sea —

Grew in the dark till the world fit in me —

(Tail-biter!) Jörmungandr holds what the gods couldn't keep free...

Verse 1

Loki's blood — Angrboða's coil in the making —

Born in Járnviðr — three siblings — all world-shaking.

Fenrir got the chain — I got the ocean-taking —

Hel got the dead — that's the Allfather's partitioning.

He thought the deep would hold what he'd been fearing —

Threw me blind into the salt without a clearing.

I hit the ocean-floor and felt the world-sphere nearing —

Grew toward the edges — took the millennia's bearing.

South wall — hit it — turned — grew east along the seabed,

East wall — turned again — the coil following the thread.

North — then west — then south — the circle fully widespread —

Bit my own tail when the gap closed — that's what Odin bred.

I've held the shape of Midgard in my jaw since the turning —

Every coastline that your longships trace — my body's earning.

Every tide that pulls the whale-road — my slow churning —

The serpent isn't guarding Midgard — I'm the border concerning.

Pre-Chorus

Thor came fishing with the old man on the grey water (grey water)

Hauled me from the deep with the ox-head — blood and slaughter.

Eye to eye across the gunwale — hammer already taut-er —

Hymir cut the line — that's the only thing that caught her. (uh!)

Chorus

I held the world's edge in my jaw since the first tide (the first tide!)

Odin's fear of me is why I was cast aside (cast aside!)

Thor and I were always fated — neither runs nor hides (runs nor hides!)

The serpent and the thunder — one death — both sides! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

The fishing trip — let me give you my position:

I felt the ox-head drop — recognised the tradition.

Felt the hook — considered — made a deliberate decision —

Let him pull me up — wanted Thor's full vision.

Came through the surface — water-wall collapsing —

Saw the red beard, felt the thunder-grip grasping.

His eyes found mine — that specific kind of clasping

That only happens when the fated thing is happening.

Hymir saw us both and what his boat was carrying —

An old man caught between two world-ending varying —

He cut the line before the hammer started burying —

Smart man — wrong outcome — just the timing he was tarrying.

I slid back to the deep with the hook-wound healing —

Thor stood in the rocking boat — that particular feeling

Of a destiny deferred — we both left that ceiling

Knowing the next meeting had no line worth revealing.

Pre-Chorus

Thor came fishing with the old man on the grey water (grey water)

Hauled me from the deep with the ox-head — blood and slaughter.

Eye to eye across the gunwale — hammer already taut-er —

Hymir cut the line — that's the only thing that caught her. (uh!)

Chorus

I held the world's edge in my jaw since the first tide (the first tide!)

Odin's fear of me is why I was cast aside (cast aside!)

Thor and I were always fated — neither runs nor hides (runs nor hides!)

The serpent and the thunder — one death — both sides! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

You want to know what it felt like releasing?

(what did it feel like?)

The tail from the jaw — the world-grip decreasing —

(the tail released...)

Every ocean floor I'd memorised — unleashing —

(every ocean...)

The coils unwinding — Midgard's border ceasing.

The flood came from me — every coastline swallowing —

(every coastline...)

Every longship port your skalds have been following —

(every port...)

Gone under — because I stopped the coil-hollowing —

(stopped holding...)

The world-shape only held because I was swallowing.

I rose through the flood-dark with the venom already forming —

(the venom...)

Felt Mjölnir coming — no flinching — no storming.

(Mjölnir coming...)

Two fated things completing what the Norns had been norming —

(the Norns wrote it...)

I breathed the venom out as the hammer was performing.

He fell in nine steps —

(nine steps...)

I watched from the flood-black beneath —

(watched him fall...)

The thunder and the serpent —

same breath.

(Skál to the fated! Skál — both fell complete!)

(The world-coil released — thunder and serpent meet!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

I held the world's edge in my jaw since the first tide (the first tide!)

Odin's fear of me is why I was cast aside (cast aside!)

Thor and I were always fated — neither runs nor hides (runs nor hides!)

The serpent and the thunder — one death — both sides! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Tail-biter! Tail-biter!)

The jaw opened...

(Hu-ha!)

The ocean took Midgard.

The hammer found me.

Nine steps above —

the same breath below.

(We were always the same thing.)