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.)
