A Man Outstanding

Dick Thompson

A song written and performed by Rick Exner
at the funeral of PFI co-founder Dick Thompson

There is a man out standing in his field
after all is said and done, and the day begins to yield.
The mist that rose above the morning dew comes back down a gritty haze
of gravel roads and right-of-ways that’s sandpaper to the gaze and pepper to the nose.

At every grove and silo on this road
there are lives upon the land and a story to be told.
A hand was played. A hand was given too.
And so the seed was sown, and with nurture it has grown into a place to call your own,
as sweet as homemade lemonade.

The open hands are ready to receive
an idea from the air – or wherever else he can retrieve.
To understand, you simply need to see
what the land expects of me, and of course the family
and the key will often be, in what is there at hand.

There is a man outstanding in his field
after all is said and done, and the day begins to yield.
Now where he’s kneeled, the seeding’s pushing through
and the voice of one so dear, that only he will hear
just reminds him he is here outstanding in his field.