Verse 1
I was twelve in a hand-me-down jacket,
Cold fingers wrapped around a thermos lid,
Dad said, “Son, don’t rush the moment,
The woods’ll tell you when you’re ready, kid.”
Sun came up through the pines real slow,
Fog hanging low like a held-back breath,
He said, “This ain’t just pulling a trigger,
It’s knowing life and respecting death.”
Pre-Chorus
He showed me tracks in the muddy ground,
How to wait, how to listen, how to pray,
Said, “What matters most ain’t what you take,
It’s what you carry away.”
Chorus
Now here I am with my boy beside me,
Same cold air, same first light,
Different year, but it feels the same,
Standing where I learned what’s right.
What my dad gave me, I give him too,
Every rule, every reason why,
Same woods, same lesson, different hands,
But the truth don’t change with time.
Verse 2
Dad taught me more than how to aim straight,
He taught me when to let it walk,
How a man stands by his word,
And means more by what he doesn’t talk.
We dragged one out at the end of the day,
Boots sore but our hearts felt strong,
He said, “One day you’ll bring your own boy here,
And you’ll know I was right all along.”
Pre-Chorus
Now I hear his voice in the things I say,
Funny how that happens somehow,
Didn’t know back then I was learning
How to be a father now.
Chorus
’Cause here I am with my boy beside me,
Same cold air, same first light,
Different year, but it feels the same,
Standing where I learned what’s right.
What my dad gave me, I give him too,
Every rule, every reason why,
Same woods, same lesson, different hands,
But the truth don’t change with time.
Bridge
His hands are small but his eyes are steady,
Heart pounding through that camo coat,
I see myself in the way he listens,
Hanging on every word I spoke.
Three generations in these trees,
More than blood, more than name,
It’s a line drawn deep in the dirt and roots,
And it don’t fade, it don’t break.
Final Chorus
Yeah here I am with my boy beside me,
Morning breaking just like before,
Passing down more than a tradition,
Passing down what a man’s for.
What my dad gave me, I give him too,
From the ground up to the sky,
Same woods, same lesson, different hands,
But the truth don’t change with time.
Outro
When the season ends and the fire burns low,
And we’re heading back home again,
It ain’t just deer we’re hunting out there —
It’s the best of who we’ve been
