Track Insight / Lyrics
Beneath the snow, my wooden handle lies
A fox crosses where the cold wind flies
His paws tap softly, sharp and quick
Through frost-white fields where shadows stick
He sniffs the thaw, then slips below
Where winter roots and buried flowers grow
I watched him pass beneath the pear tree
His ember coat cut through the white
He paused where foxglove, dormant, slept
And sniffed the soil I'd often kept
The garden's Latin names rang thin
As frost crept underneath my chin
His tail departed like a brush of flame
Across the mulch and frozen loam
He crossed the rungs of my old rake
Then circled where the roses break
No paw disturbed the dormant seed
Just velvet feet and urgent need
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
Through winter's locked and lonesome night
Beneath the fence, through shadowed snow
The streetlamp's pale and steady glow
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
One fleeting shape, then winter's bite
I'm rooted in the frozen earth
Still holding every dormant curse
A birch twig cracked beneath his weight
He jumped the rime along my gate
No footprint in the plants he passed
Just wind behind him, swift as grass
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
Through winter's locked and lonesome night
Beneath the fence, through shadowed snow
The streetlamp's pale and steady glow
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
One fleeting shape, then winter's bite
The porch light held him for a breath
The cold air sharpened underneath
He looked toward porch and open door
A warmth had flickered there before
Then duty called him past the heat
And silver paws returned to street
I felt the soil begin to warm
His passage brushed the coming storm
The sedum hid beneath the stone
A pulse of life inside, alone
He never stopped to learn my name
But foxes carry winter's flame
He climbed the hill where yews persist
Then vanished in the circling mist
I watched his tail become a spark
Across the yard beyond the dark
The garden breathed another time
And I was weathered into mine
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
Through winter's locked and lonesome night
Beneath the fence, through shadowed snow
The streetlamp's pale and steady glow
Across my frozen white, your paws are light
You almost stayed, then chose the night
The gate is cold beneath my grain
The pear tree holds the silent rain
No paw will cross the frozen loam
Till thaw returns me to the loam
I'll wait with roots and patient soil
While winter takes the fox's foil
