Wolf Cloak Ledger (Version 2)

Intro

Ledger's leather cracked like the river in March

Ink gone brown but the numbers still march

Wolf cloak folded where the door used to latch

He said the debt don't heal, it learns to attach

Verse

Dawn broke iron gray over traps still steel-tight

He walked the line with lantern low, breath turned to light

Fingers cracked like kindling, numb past the glove

Counted pelts by moonlight, called it a kind of love

Trading post owed him credit, paid it out in flour and lead

Marked every debt in the ledger, red ink instead of thread

Wolf came sniffing the smokehouse, thin as a debt collector

He tracked it three days through drift, made it his protector

Skinned it slow by the fire, stretched the hide on ash-wood frame

Wore it into town like a title, wore it like a name

Store man tried to shame the tab, called the winter a test

Grandfather set the cloak down heavy, let the fur do the rest

Never boasted at the counter, let the silence do the talking

Paid the debt in full by spring, kept the ledger locked in walking

Said the wolf don't forgive weakness, only forgives who returns

Passed the book to my father with the pages he'd earned

Chorus

Wolf cloak on my shoulders, ledger in my hand

Every debt I settled is a mark I understand

Winter don't forgive you, only counts if you withstand

Wolf cloak, ledger — that's the difference in the plan

Verse

Now the traps are different, collectors call at noon

Same cold arithmetic dressed different, same old tune

I kept my own ledger, torn spiral, coffee-stained

Marked every hour worked