The wolves went quiet Just after midnight No warning No moon No reason Just teeth Becoming shadows And shadows Becoming trees I waited for the growl Nothing I waited for the fear Nothing That frightened me more There was a red light Under the mountain Blinking Once Once Once Like somebody trying To remember a heart I said— Come on then Come on I know this game But the night Wouldn’t play When the wolves go quiet What do you hear? When there’s nothing left running What do you fear? When the teeth disappear And the darkness stays Who are you fighting When nobody gives chase? I walked through the timber With smoke in my lungs Old little battles Still under my tongue You owe me I owe you Balance the scale Hammer the heavens And call yourself well But nobody came Nobody fought Nobody cared What vengeance I brought The trees just stood there Rude bastards Watching I found an old mirror Half under the leaves Cracked down the middle Two of me One said— You survived The other— So what? One held a fist One opened it up I wanted the angry one To tell me the truth He looked very tired Much older than youth When the wolves go quiet What do you hear? When there’s nothing left running What do you fear? When the teeth disappear And the darkness stays Who are you fighting When nobody gives chase? Then somewhere behind me A guitar One note Low Bent until blue Had nowhere to go Another came crawling Across the black sky Not asking a question Not needing a why The drums found a heartbeat The bass found the ground The whole fucking forest Turned into sound And I— I wanted to howl I really did Open my mouth Nothing came out Maybe the wolf Was never the voice Maybe the wolf Was needing the noise Maybe the teeth Were only the way A frightened little animal Learned how to stay No Too easy Too pretty Break it The wolf bites The wolf bleeds The wolf takes The wolf needs The wolf knows hunger The wolf knows cold The wolf gets frightened The wolf gets old There That’s better Don’t make him holy Don’t make him wise He’s just another creature With weather in his eyes When the wolves go quiet What do you hear? Blood in your body Wind in your ear No enemy coming No kingdom to save Just dirt under heaven And your own little grave So what now? What now? What now? The red light stopped blinking The mountain went black I waited for something To call me back Nothing did Good I sat on a stone Until morning arrived Not forgiven Not rescued Just alive And far through the trees Something moved Soft Grey Gone I didn’t follow For once I didn’t follow.
