Lyrics

[Intro]

One, two, three… all tucked in tight.

Let there still be three come morning light.

[Verse 1]

You crack through the shell with a squeak and a shove,

All hunger and elbows and trouble and love.

Be it leaves from the hillside or meat from a kill,

You’ve eaten my dinner. You’re hungry still.

I haven’t had supper; I haven’t had sleep,

There’s one in the bushes and two in a heap.

I turn for a heartbeat to check on the rest—

You’re chasing a beetle away from the nest.

[Verse 2]

A Herrera waits where the high branches sway;

A Pteranodon circles and watches you play.

The Troodons start whooping just out of our sight,

And suddenly nowhere feels safe for the night.

One eye on the treetops, one ear to the ground—

My heart stops whenever you don’t make a sound.

[Pre-Chorus]

From the mightiest Rex to the Hypsie so small,

The fear of that silence’s the same for us all.

[Chorus]

Little feet, big world, stay close tonight,

You’re a bundle of trouble, my reason to fight.

I’ll starve through the evening, I’ll bleed through the day,

If it buys you the time just to grow up and play.

Keep running, keep breathing, keep stumbling on—

All I’m asking is one more dawn.

[Verse 3]

I’ve chased off a hunter, I’ve found you a meal;

You’re testing the cliff like the drop isn’t real.

You climb on the rocks, point your nose to the sky—

Get down, little genius! You weren’t born to fly!

“Stop biting your brother! He’s half of your size!”

You don’t get another if somebody dies.

No teeth in the treetops, no croc in the bay—

Sometimes the danger is you when you play.

[Chorus]

Little feet, big world, stay close tonight,

You’re a bundle of trouble, my reason to fight.

I’ll starve through the evening, I’ll bleed through the day,

If it buys you the time just to grow up and play.

Keep running, keep breathing, keep stumbling on—

All I’m asking is one more dawn.

[Verse 4]

The river looks gentle, the far bank is near;

You’re thirsty and tired, and the water runs clear.

But a Deino lies low where the green rushes grow;

There’s more in those depths than a hatchling can know.

One ripple, one rush, and I’m down in the foam,

Still calling a name that won’t follow me home.

[Bridge]

I remember each voice; I remember each face,

And the names in my heart that no years can erase.

Then one sleepy head nestles close against me,

And I know there’s no place I would rather be.

Then one day you’re taller. You stand on your own,

And call to a hatchling the way you were shown.

You wait while it stumbles; you guide it along—

And I hear my own voice in your first nesting song.

[Final Chorus]

Little feet, big world, you made it this far,

Through the teeth and the terror, through scar after scar.

Now you shelter small heads from the wind and the rain,

And I’d walk every mile just to raise you again.

Keep loving, keep guarding, keep carrying on—

Let them wake to the warmth of one more dawn.

[Outro]

One, two, three… all tucked in tight.

Let there still be three come morning light.