Weight of the Wolf's Coin (version 2)

Intro

Grandfather kept the gate when the harvest turned to dust

Every soul that crossed him paid the toll or paid in trust

Verse 1

He built the bridge from oak that the flood refused to keep

Charged a coin for passage while the valley starved in sleep

Some called him a robber, said his palm was made of ice

Others called him savior for the debt he split in twice

He kept a ledger bound in leather, numbers neat and small

Every name that owed him, he could still recall

Winter of the fever, half the village turned to ash

He floated free the widows, wouldn't touch their cash

Said the wolf don't wait for sorrow, wolf just wants his due

Pay the coin or feed the river, ain't but one or two

He carried that gate's weight until his hands went stiff

Passed it to my father like a debt, not like a gift

Father kept the ledger, added names in blood and rust

Said a man who holds the toll's the only man they trust

Thirty years the bridge stood while the town forgot his name

Now his coin's the only thing that's left to hold his claim

Hook

That's the weight of the wolf's coin

Heavy in the pocket, heavier when it's gone

You pay to cross the water, you pay to carry on

That's the weight of the wolf's coin

Verse 2

I inherited the gate but traded oak for concrete blocks

Now I'm charging interest to the block that pawns the clock

Every corner got a toll, every hallway got a fee

I learned the ledger young, watched my father count in threes

Kept a coin beneath my tongue like grandaddy used to keep

Said you swallow it at sunrise, spit it out asleep

I fed a few for free the way the old man fed the sick

Called it mercy, called it business, called it sleight of wrist

Some nights the coin feels lighter than the debt it's tied to

Some nights I count the names of who I had to say no to

I built my own ledger out of favors and of scars

Every name's a bridge I crossed to get me where I are

They said the toll man's cursed, say the wolf's coin brings the frost

I said the frost was coming either way, I chose the cost

Now they call me legend for the gate I learned to hold

Same old river running, different kind of cold

Hook

That's the weight of the wolf's coin

Heavy in the pocket, heavier when it's gone

You pay to cross the water, you pay to carry on

That's the weight of the wolf's coin

Bridge

I used to think the coin was cursed, now I know it's just a scale

Weighs what you gave against the ones you let s