HUNGER KNOWS THE WOODS
Deer track’s faint where the briars grow,
River runs quiet where the catfishes go.
My belly’s a blade, cuts sharp through the morn,
Hunger’s my teacher since the day I was born.
I read every ripple, I know every sign,
The hawk’s shadow falls on the ridge’s spine.
A hook in the current, a snare in the brush,
The woods feed the patient, no need to rush.
Hunger knows the woods, where the wild things roam,
It carves out a path to a supper called home.
One shot, one line, one prayer in the cold,
The woods give enough if your heart’s bold.
The frost bites my fingers, the wind stings my face,
But I trace the hoofprints to a hidin’ place.
A trout’s silver flash in the dawn’s pale glow,
Hunger’s my map where the wild things go.
The squirrel’s too quick, and the rabbit’s too sly,
But I learn their ways ‘neath the hunter’s sky.
Each miss is a lesson, each catch is a grace,
The woods don’t forgive, but they know my face.
Hunger knows the woods, where the shadows play,
It taught me to hunt when the world went astray.
One kill, one meal, one night to endure,
The woods keep me livin’, though the heart ain’t sure.
The rabbit don’t run when the moonlight’s thin,
And the trout don’t bite till the mist rolls in.
The woods got a rhythm, a pulse you can feel,
Hunger’s the fire that keeps it real.
Hunger knows the woods, where the shadows play,
It taught me to hunt when the world went astray.
One kill, one meal, one night to endure,
The woods keep me livin’, though the heart ain’t sure.
The woods keep me livin’… though the heart ain’t sure.