A Knot of Steps

[Verse 1]
The first sun spills its pale, grudging light,
On old pine stairs that know the endless night.
My old hound stirs, a worn patch on the floor,
Where once his youth would outrun me to the door.
He pushes up, a tremor in his paw,
Defying silently, nature's cruelest law.

[Chorus]
Each morning, a battle, a silent, slow fray,
His spirit still climbs, though his body can't sway.
A persistent knot in the wood, a story he tries to mend,
On this long, winding path that truly has no end.

[Verse 2]
His joints, like ancient roots, stiffen with the Pskov cold,
A heavy thread, too fragile now to hold.
He sniffs the worn wood, the scent of years ingrained,
A forgotten road, where his quick paws once reigned, unrestrained.
The scent of damp earth, carried on the breeze,
Reminds him of fields, beneath the ancient trees.

[Chorus]
Each morning, a battle, a silent, slow fray,
His spirit still climbs, though his body can't sway.
A persistent knot in the wood, a story he tries to mend,
On this long, winding path that truly has no end.

[Bridge]
The Velikaya whispers, a current ever true,
But some currents snag, no matter what we do.
A shadow falls across his searching, clouded gaze,
Unraveling strength from his long-gone, brighter days.
This quiet struggle, a truth I cannot weave away,
A silent promise, to face another day.

[Outro]
He settles back down, a weary, hopeful sigh,
Beneath the stairs, where faded dreams still lie.