Weight of the Wolf's Crown (Version 2)

Intro

Grandfather kept a ledger bound in leather, page by page

Written down in pencil what a man could earn at half his wage

Some men inherit money, some inherit chains

I inherited the mathematics of surviving on the strain

Verse

Started in the warehouse, four in the morning, loading trucks

Supervisor's nephew got the foreman role, I got the brush

Swept the same floor fifteen years, watched the paint wear thin

Every scuff a shift, every corner where the light wore thin

Made enough to keep the apartment, not enough to leave

Learned to read a ledger like my grandfather, learned to grieve

Quiet-like, the way a man grieves what he never owned

A pension plan that crumbled, promises in stone

Built the company's foundation with my spine and hands

Watched the younger men move up while I drew the same plans

No complaint carved in my face, just the weight that settles deep

The kind of tired that don't leave you, even when you sleep

Taught my son the numbers, taught him how to calculate

That some men build the ladder while they're standing at the gate

Chorus

I wear the crown the wolf wears, heavy and unseen

Built from every sacrifice, from knowing what it means

To break your back for breadcrumbs while the feast goes on

I wear the crown the wolf wears, and I keep moving on

Verse

Twenty years, my son got out, made it to the city

Got a job that paid in digits, got a name that carried grit

Called me up one evening, voice all thick with shame

Said Dad I'm making what you made in less than half the strain

Told him that's the purpose, that's the whole design

That your burden breaks the ground so the next one climbs

He wept into the phone line, said I owe you everything

I said you owe the ledger, you just fill the next blank page

Now I'm teaching grandsons how the mathematics work

How a man can carry nothing and still know his worth

The weight don't disappear, son, it just transfers hands

From the father to the builder, from the builder to the land

Verse

Warehouse closed down three years back, moved the work overseas

Left the floor all vacant, left the men on their knees

Got a pension that was quarter what they promised me

But I got something else they can't liquidate or steal

Got a family that knows how to carry what is real

Got a name that means endurance, got a scar that's sealed

When the wolf walks through the kingdom wearing nothing but its will

Chorus

I wear the crown the wolf wears, heavy and unseen

Built from every sacrifice, from knowing what it means

To break your back for breadcrumbs while the feast goes on

I wear the crown the wolf wears, and I keep moving on

Outro

The ledger's got a new hand now, the pages turning still

Some debts can't be collected, but they shape us, and they will

I wear the crown the wolf wears