# **Tessa** **[Verse 1]** We had a dog named Titus Dumb as a box of rocks A mountain-sized old lunk With a head like a trunk And two bright snow-white socks Our little yard couldn’t hold him He quit his food and play So we said, “Get a friend Maybe his blues will end” And Tessa came our way **[Verse 2]** She was wire-haired, wild, and pretty Never still and full of flair But Titus stayed low So we found him a home On a farm with room to spare Four young’uns, fields, and critters Made his country life complete He found his place With room to race And acres under his feet **[Verse 3]** Her name stood for three daughters She was meant to calm my mind Supposed to be mine But most of the time By Mama’s feet you’d find Still, make no mistake, she was my dog I didn’t need her in my lap She guarded each door And watched every floor But never once would snap **[Chorus]** She looked mean on the outside But love lived deep within A heart wrapped up in barbed wire With sweetness under skin She’d wake the dead Rattle your head That bark could shake the walls But I slept sound With her around Nightly roaming those halls **[Verse 4]** The smartest dog I ever knew Sweet and gentle through and through She’d sound the alarm Keep us from harm And always seemed to know what to do She should’ve lived several more years But cancer played its game Spry to the end My greatest friend Yeah, Tessa was her name **[Bridge]** I’m proud of all my children The three of them a set And Tessa held a place her own A daughter I won’t forget Her ashes rest upon the mantle I still can’t let her go Sometimes at night I wake in fright Her bark still shakes my soul **[Final Chorus]** She looked mean on the outside But love lived deep within A heart wrapped up in barbed wire With sweetness under skin She’d wake the dead Rattle your head That bark could shake the walls But I slept sound With her around While she'd roam all those halls **[Spoken Outro]** The Bible never tells us If our animals wait above But I pray she’s running free now In fields of perfect love Keeping watch beside my Savior Till He calls me home And when I reach those gates one day He’ll let my Tessa and Me freely roam
