Ledger of the Frostbitten (Version 2)

Intro

River froze in November, ledger opened its spine

Grandfather's hand shook ink into every line

Names of men who crossed the ice before the thaw could climb

Frostbite ain't a wound out there, it's a signature in time

Verse

Six below and the lantern swinging off the sled rail

Grandfather counted breath like coins, said the cold don't fail

Traders came in boots packed with straw for second skin

Paid us back in marten pelts, we marked down who checked in

Ledger had two columns, one for weight and one for name

Man who lost three fingers still got credit for the same

Said the river tests you slow, it don't drown you fast

Only the careless sink, the patient ones outlast

Watched him wrap a stranger's hand in cloth soaked black with pine

Wrote the debt as paid in full, crossed the number off the line

Learned the difference early between hunger and a want

Between a man who's broke and one who's only running gaunt

By twelve I held the pen, my knuckles cracked like his

Wrote my uncle's name in red the winter that he didn't live

Ledger doesn't cry, it just keeps tally of the cost

Every name still standing is a name the ice ain't got

Chorus

Ledger of the frostbitten, every name still stands

Cold took the feeling, couldn't take the hands

Ink don't thaw, the debt still calls my name

Frostbit but we crossed it, and we're not the same

Verse

Now the river's concrete, but the crossing works the same

Every deal's a debt, every hand's a hidden claim

Kept the old