How do I get an "empty / blank" lyric at the start of a song?

[Kevin Cole]

I have a song that starts with two voices(?) for different timing on
different verses:

global = {
  \key c \major
  \time 2/4
}

melody = {
  \relative {
    \global
    \partial 8
    <<
      { \voiceOne r8^\mf }
      \new Voice
      { \voiceTwo e'8 }
    >>
    \oneVoice                   | %   0
    ...
  }
}

For the lyrics, I want something like:

words = \lyricmode {
                                | % 0
  ...
}

In other words (or lack thereof) the first verse doesn't start on the
pickup note, but later verses do. So I don't want a lyric under the
rest.