Campfire songs

There’s a whisper in the pines tonight

Where the fire don’t burn quite right

Cracklin’ wood and a blood-red spark

And something breathing in the dark

Bootsteps circle just out of sight

Dragging chains through the edge of light

You turn around but there’s nothing there—

Just the cold and a distant stare

Don’t look back when the wind calls your name

Don’t feed the flame if it flickers strange

Tell me tales where the shadows creep

Where the woods don’t let you leave

Where the night has teeth that bite

And it’s always just past midnight

Hear the howl, feel the ground shake slow

There’s a place we don’t dare go

Pass the fire, don’t lose the light—

Some don’t make it through the night

There’s a cabin rotting past the trail

With a door that screams like a ghost in jail

Windows black but they watch you still

From the hollow of the hill

They say a man went missing there

Left his boots on the broken stair

And if you knock, he’ll let you in—

But you won’t come out again

Count your friends when the embers glow

Sometimes one ain’t who you know

Tell me tales where the shadows creep

Where the woods don’t let you leave

Where the night has teeth that bite

And it’s always just past midnight

Hear the howl, feel the ground shake slow

There’s a place we don’t dare go

Pass the fire, don’t lose the light—

Some don’t make it through the night

Did you hear that snap? That wasn’t a branch

Something’s circling wide in a slow, dark dance

Keep your voice low, don’t say a word

It learns your sound, it hunts what it heard

The fire’s dying… don’t let it fade

That’s when the things in the dark get brave

And if it smiles with too many teeth—

Don’t let it know you can’t breathe

Tell me tales where the shadows creep

Where the woods don’t let you leave

Where the night has teeth that bite

And it’s always just past midnight

Hear the howl, feel the ground shake slow

There’s a place we don’t dare go

Hold that flame like your only right—

Or you’ll be the tale… next night

So pass the story, don’t break the chain

Keep the fire… or feel the rain

And if you hear your name out there—

No one called you… beware