First Light – English Lyrics

• By: Hozier
• Album: Unreal Unearth

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

One bright morning changes all things

Soft and easy as your breathing, you wake

Your eyes open, at first a thousand miles away

But turning, shoot a silver bullet point-blank range

And I can scarce believe what I'm believing in

Could this be how every day begins?

The sky set to burst

The gold and the rust

The colour erupts

You filling my cup

The sun coming up

Like I lived my whole life

...

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes)

Like I lived my whole life

Before the first light

(Some bright morning)

One bright morning goes so easy

Darkness always finds you either way

It creeps into the corners as the moment fades

A voice your body jumps to calling out your name

But after this I'm never gonna be the same

And I am never going back again

The sky set to burst

The gold and the rust

The colour erupts

You filling my cup

The sun coming up

Like I lived my whole life

...

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes)

Like I lived my whole life

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes)

Like I lived my whole life

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes) Yeah, yeah

Like I lived my whole life

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes) Hey, hey

Like I lived my whole life

Before the first light

(Some bright morning comes)

...

Key Grammar Structures

• One bright morning changes all things

  ➔ Simple Present Tense

  ➔ Describes universal truths or habitual actions. "changes" shows permanent transformation.

• Soft and easy as your breathing, you wake

  ➔ Simile with 'as'

  ➔ Compares waking to breathing using "as". Highlights gentle transition.

• But turning, shoot a silver bullet point-blank range

  ➔ Present Participle Phrase

  ➔ "Turning" modifies the subject while showing simultaneous action.

• And I can scarce believe what I'm believing in

  ➔ Embedded Question

  ➔ Clause "what I'm believing in" functions as noun object of "believe".

• Could this be how every day begins?

  ➔ Modal Verb for Speculation

  ➔ "Could" expresses possibility about a hypothetical situation.

• Darkness always finds you either way

  ➔ Adverb of Frequency

  ➔ "Always" emphasizes inevitability regardless of circumstances.

• It creeps into the corners as the moment fades

  ➔ Temporal Conjunction 'as'

  ➔ "as" links two simultaneous actions showing parallel progression.

• But after this I'm never gonna be the same

  ➔ Future with 'gonna'

  ➔ Informal "gonna" = going to expresses irreversible future change.

• Like I lived my whole life before the first light

  ➔ Subjunctive Mood

  ➔ "lived" implies hypothetical past contrary to reality.