BOTH ENDS OF THE REINS

folk lament for the dragons

A quiet roll-call for the ones who were flown into a war nobody asked them to join.

"A crown gives the order, the winged one bears the flame.

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BOTH ENDS OF THE REINS lyrics

Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.

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Verse 1

Stormcloud took the frightened boy through arrows from the shore, then folded by the castle, could not carry anymore. Tyraxes burned the hands that came; his own chain held him fast. Shrykos met the woodsman's axe while the crowd pinned down his back. Morghul's cage became his pyre before he'd flown the sky. Arrax vanished under Vhagar; war could not turn back that night. Vermax broke upon the Gullet; armored Jace went with him down. Young wings sewn to children's names, wounds no war could turn around.

Chorus

War burns both ends of the reins. A crown gives the order, the winged one bears the flame. The book records the rider; the ash forgets the claim. War burns both ends of the reins, till no one knows which one was chained.

Verse 2

Moondancer bit the golden sun, though four times less his size, left Sunfyre crawling homeward with a shadow in his eyes. He lived on broken wings, killed a queen before her son; the Blue Queen, Tessarion, met three fires and became none. Grey Ghost fled all human hands; the Cannibal found him first. Seasmoke chose the dock-born boy the noble houses cursed. Vermithor closed around him where the burning bodies rolled; bronze and silver grappled down, too furious to grow old.

Chorus

Verse 3

Syrax never met an army; nameless hands pulled glory down. Dreamfyre tore her fetters; falling stone became her crown. Meleys was the fastest; two came down to make her fall. Caraxes locked with Vhagar high above the battle's call. He sank his teeth and held her as they struck the God's Eye deep, the last great queen of Conquest in a lake too cold to keep.

Bridge

They measured nose to tail and wrote the rider underneath, as if the hand that names a heart can purchase its belief. But iron does not turn to love because a prince holds on; some died obeying, some escaped, and none had picked the war.

Verse 4

Sheepstealer learned one girl's patience, one fresh sheep at dawn. Silverwing outlived the banners; by a Reach lake she flew on. Cannibal ate cradle-fire; no saddle crossed his spine. Balerion melted towers, then let age collect its time. A hundred scars went quiet without trumpet, sword, or throne; the greatest fire died in sleep, the one death war left alone.

Chorus

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01 / The opening