Intro
Snow packs the traproom door, latch frozen shut with rust
Grandfather's coat still hangs there, stiff with old wolf dust
Verse
Wolf winter came in '51, snow up past the sill
Grandfather split the smokehouse wood while the wind stood still
Traps lined the fence like teeth in a jaw gone gray
He'd check them before sunrise, count what the frost would pay
Some nights the pelts were empty, some nights the blood was warm
He'd skin by lamplight steady, never flinched at the storm
Six kids in the cabin, one stove, one loaf of bread
He ate the crust last, said the middle keeps the head clear instead
Told me the wolves don't hunt for hate, they hunt because they're hollow
Same hunger drives the trapper down the path he has to follow
He kept a ledger too, notches carved in pine
One for every pelt, one for every borrowed time
Buried three winters deep before the thaw came slow
Left the traps, the coat, the debt for me to know
I was nine when I first felt that cold teach me its name
Learned that surviving quiet is its own kind of flame
Chorus
It's a wolf winter, snow don't ask you twice
Either you're the hunter or you're paying the price
Ash in the stove, scar on the hand
Legends ain't made warm, they're made where the wolves stand
Verse
Forty years later, same block, different kind of frost
Heat got cut off Tuesday, mama counting what it cost
I split hours like he split wood, three jobs for one plate
Traps ain't steel no more, they're paperwork and late
Landlord got his own ledger, marks the rent in red
I learned to eat the crust last, keep the hunger in my head
Corner boys are wolves now, circling what's thin
I kept my coat zipped tight, never let the cold in
Some nights the block was empty, some nights it ran hot
I moved through like my grandfather, careful with what I got
Carved my own notches, phone screen cracked like ice
Every job I clocked was a pelt, was a sacrifice
They said the ghetto eats you slow like winter eats a lamb
I said the ghetto taught me patience, taught me who I am
Same hunger, different frost, same blood in the vein
I'm the wolf and the trapper, walking in the same terrain
Chorus
It's a wolf winter, snow don't ask you twice
Either you're the hunter or you're paying the price
Ash in the stove, scar on the hand
Legends ain't made warm, they're made where the wolves stand
Bridge
Truth is some winters never thaw, they just change their shape
The block, the war, the bills, the same cold in a new drape
I stopped asking for spring, started building my own fire
Not the kind that keeps you warm, the kind that lifts you higher
Grandfather's coat don't fit me, but I wear the weight the same
Every scar he left in silence,
