Intro
Icehouse door still hangs on one good hinge and half a chain
Sawdust in the floorboards holds the shape of every name
Verse
Grandfather worked the river when the ice was two feet thick
Sawed it into blocks like coffins, hauled 'em fast and quick
Tongs bit steel into the frost, horses breathing steam
Every family owed a summer's worth of frozen dream
Icehouse packed with sawdust, kept the blocks from turning thin
He'd chalk a name each time a wagon came to borrow in
Widow Cole took three blocks in the August that her roof burned
Paid it back in eggs and thread, every debt she ever earned
Some men vanished with the thaw, left their tab in ice and dust
Grandfather never chased them, said the river holds the trust
Said a man who gives away his cold is rich in ways uncounted
Said the frost don't ask for interest, only asks you mounted
On the sled before the dawn breaks, working while the town still dreams
Stack it eight blocks high and pray the roof don't buckle at the seams
I was born up in that icehouse, sawdust settled in my lungs
Learned to read the cold like scripture, learned the weight of debts unsung
Chorus
Ledger of the long winter, every name is in the frost
Ledger of the long winter, keeps the count of what it cost
Ledger of the long winter, ink don't fade, it only freezes
Pay it back when the river thaws and the water finally pleases
Verse
Father watched the trucks bring engines colder than the river's vein
Machines could freeze a ton without the wind or any pain
He kept the tongs up anyway, nailed them to the wall
Said a tool that built a man don't leave him when they call
Trade dried up in sixty-one, the ledger turned to dust
Father sold the horses, kept the names 'cause names you trust
Every debt still open, wrote it new in fresher ink
Said the cold remembers people longer than you'd think
I found the book at twelve years old beneath a rotted floor
Names like Cole and Whitfield, blocks and eggs and thread and more
Some were crossed, some underlined, some had gone half gray
Father said a debt unpaid still teaches you to weigh
Weigh a man by what he gives when winter takes the most
