Intro
Grandpa's ledger by the woodstove, chalk gone black as coal
Wolf winter don't ask questions, only who can pay the toll
Verse
Grandpa ran the trapline when the wolves came down for meat
Marked the pelts in chalk, called it currency, not defeat
Every fox he skinned bought flour, every mink bought coal
Kept a ledger by the woodstove, numbers black as soul
Said the winter don't ask questions, only who can pay the cost
Watched three neighbors starve that season, watched him never lose what's lost
He fed the Hendersons on credit, wrote their name in red
Said a debt kept honest beats a promise never said
I was seven, held the lantern while he checked the snares at dawn
Learned the sound of ice that's breaking under weight it's not withdrawn
He'd hum no hymns, just counted, breath like smoke against the pine
Told me every name inside that book was proof that we survived
Thirty traps, one river, no man came to lend a hand
Still he split the meat in quarters, still he understood demand
Buried that ledger with him, kept the debts but not the shame
Now I run my own cold season, still keep count, still know each name
Chorus
Wolf winter ledger, every debt still owed
Snow don't forgive a name, so I paid it back in gold
Wolves don't wait for spring, I made mine my own road
Kept the count in silence, that's how legends get told
Verse
Block was starving one December, no work, no heat, no play
Kept my own tally on the wall, chalk mark for every day
Fed my cousin off my plate when his check ain't come through
Wrote it down like Grandpa did, said a debt's a bridge, not a rue
Corner boys were circling hungry, everybody wanted more
I split what little bread I had, kept the wolves outside my door
Some nights the block ran red, more debts than dollars in my hand
Still I paid the widow's rent, still I tried to understand
Ledger got so thick with names I had to start a second book
Every page a witness to the hunger, every line a look
At who stood firm when frost came knocking, who ran when it got tough
Learned the difference between a friend and someone calling bluff
I don't flex the corners now, I count what's left to give
Every name still in that ledger is a reason that I live
