[Verse 1] I walked these stones a thousand times before When every crack and column held a name The candles knew my footsteps at the door The faithful sang and everything was flame
I heard the word carried on the wind from the east Something dark and patient slowly rising They brought it to the altar, brought it to the feast And I said — I will go, I will hold the line
[Pre-Chorus] (choir begins, distant) They placed the mantle on my shoulders They raised the flame above the nave They said the darkness had been waiting And I was everything they’d prayed
[Chorus — full choir, sacred hymn swell] They called me The First Light They raised their hands to heaven in my name They called me The First Light And every voice was certain I would claim the fight They called me The First Light And I believed them Every word
[Verse 2 — stripped back, strings only] Now only shadows fill the arching halls The hymns I memorized have lost their sound The stone still holds the cold of everything But not the warmth of all the hope I found
I was so sure — I had studied every scar Every dark thing that had ever risen I had prayed at every altar, every dawn, every star I said — I am ready, I was made for this
[Pre-Chorus 2] (choir barely there, fading) They placed the mantle on my shoulders They raised the flame above the nave They said the darkness had been waiting And I walked out — unafraid
[Chorus 2 — same but beginning to hollow] They called me The First Light They raised their hands to heaven in my name They called me The First Light And every voice was certain I would claim the fight They called me The First Light And I believed it Every word
[Bridge — piano alone, her voice barely above a whisper] Now the halls don’t answer The altar holds no fire The voices that once named me Are lost inside the choir
A world that used to watch me Has closed its eyes and gone And I have paid in full For every road I walked along
(long pause)
Now what.
[Final Chorus — choir returns, thinner, one voice gone] They called me The First Light They raised their hands to heaven in my name They called me The First Light The fight has taken everything I thought I knew They called me The First Light
(the choir drops, just her)
And the first light always fades before the dawn
(silence)
[Outro — barely audible, voice in an empty room] The halls remember The stones remember But the hands that held me up
(nothing)