From the recording Everything Else Was Noise
A Poet And A Teller Of Truth
This song feels like one of the clearest statements of who I am as a writer.
I have lived enough life to know that truth is not always pretty, and it is not always easy to carry. But I have also learned that there is beauty in telling it honestly. Sometimes the only way to make peace with the broken places is to hold them up to the light and let them become part of the story.
“A Poet And A Teller Of Truth” is about accepting that calling. It is about writing from the real places — the hurt, the love, the faith, the mistakes, the survival, and the lessons that come from living long enough to look back and understand things differently.
In many ways, this song is my promise to the listener: I may not always have the perfect words, but I will try to give you honest ones.
— Lane Alan Dumser
Lyrics
They found his old note book
On the table by his chair
Coffee ring on the cover
And a strand of silver hair
First page said smoke and soul
Next one said grit and grace
Half a line about a hard road
And a tear he didn’t waste
Somebody smiled and said
That sounds like him
Then the room got still
And soft again
He was a poet
And a teller of truth
A heart full of weather
And a worn-out pair of boots
He spoke of smoke and soul
Of grit and grace and road
And if he showed us anything
He showed us how to love
With, His kind of love
He wrote about old dogs
Sleepin’ by the fire
Biscuits in the mornin’
And hearts grown tired
About a woman at the table
Sayin’, boy, sit down and eat
And the kind of quiet love
That don’t have to make a speech
He never claimed perfection
Never shined himself too bright
He just took the broken pieces
And held ’em to the light
He was a poet
And a teller of truth
A heart full of weather
And a worn-out pair of boots
He spoke of smoke and soul
Of grit and grace and road
And if he showed us anything
He showed us how to love
With, His kind of love
One line said don’t let hard win
One said love remains
One said grace ain’t always pretty
But it gets you through the pain
So don’t make him more than man
Just say he did enough
He told the truth the best he could
And loved with, His kind of love
He was a poet
And a teller of truth
Smoke and soul
Grit and grace and road
If the world remembers me
Let that be what they know
I loved with. My kind of love
My kind of love