Not Mine To Claim

Intro

A village waiting on a winter that won't end

Nothing starts until the fire goddess hears it first

Verse 1

The cub slept in a cedar cage beside the house all winter long

Fed from the same bowl as the children, learning the smell of smoke and song

Two weeks of sake left to work, the rice turned slow to something new

Before the fire goddess heard the first prayer said, the house went quiet and blue

Verse 2

They cut the inaw sticks by hand, curled the shavings white and thin

Stood them in a row along the wall to mark where the god comes in

Snow stood taller than the door that year, the river locked under its own skin

Three days of dance before the arrow named for bears was loosed within

Hook

Not mine to keep, not mine to claim

Just mine to carry, not to name

Three days counted, the debt repaid

Nothing taken that wasn't given, wasn't made

Bridge

They filled the skull with mountain flowers, set it high above the gate

So every hunter walking home would remember to give and not just take

The rope, the window, and the altar — none of it was ever hate

Just a family sending home a god they'd raised, and fed, and named too late

Hook

Not mine to keep, not mine to claim

Just mine to carry, not to name

Three days counted, the debt repaid

Nothing taken that wasn't given, wasn't made

Verse 3

At midnight only the men stayed close, the fire burned down and thin

They cleared the skull with steady hands, and packed the flowers in

They spoke the mountain's name out loud, so the god would know the way

By morning there was only snow where the empty cage still lay

Outro