PEACEFUL THANKSGIVING

Family, friends, and strangers everywhere, it’s two thousand and twenty-six,

To all of our family members who are not here this year, we think of them.

Wherever they may be, in heaven or on far-away missions to foreign lands,

They may be where we don’t ever want to be, and we are where they hope to be.

To all those Thanksgiving memories with our relatives, our fathers and mothers,

If we are so fortunate to spend this year with loved ones, friends, and others, enjoy.

A peaceful Thanksgiving for just one day during this time of turmoil in our world,

Put away the guns, stop rioting in the streets, leave the anger behind, peace that we seek.

A peaceful Thanksgiving, be with those who may not be here on another day,

love, life, and a piece of happiness as our lives spin beyond what sorrow and pain we retain.

                                 Keith Garrett

         A MYSTERY

Something not discovered, a story that grows,

That which can not be figured out, a mystery.

Who did it, or how did it happen, is a question,

Responsibility for a disappearance or crime.

Aliens are around us constantly; keep searching,

A mystery it is about Jack the Ripper, who was Jack?

Things exaggerated from the human mind, folklore,

A mystery grows with time, a mystery created with time.

                    Keith Garrett

       A PAGE FROM YESTERDAY

Memories, a window to our past, pictures of special times,

Friends we once knew, where are they now, somewhere.

There are those no longer among us, their story is written,

A book closed, put away on a shelf but forever cherished.

We thought as children that life was magic and wishes,

Teenagers having fun trying to figure out where we were going.

We were fortunate to have been given such friends back in time,

Lucky if we are still blessed with their presence today.

We take a page from yesterday, off comes that book from Its’ place,

Remember that friend in our heart that never disappears, that face.

A voice that was once heard, a smile, now an echo, forever a thought,

Well! today some of those faces, those voices, and a smile remembered

Are here to share a night, a memory and a page again written, a book.

                            Keith Garrett  

A LIGHT IN THE FOREST

Traveling together were a friend and I, on a getaway,

Down the long highway we went, weren’t sure where we were going.

We started out driving, searching for that unusual place of discovery,

A forest that would be our destination, we’re on our way into the day.

We travel along talking and listening to our favorite music, getting close,

Further ahead of us in the distance they appear to our eyes, trees so high.

We’ll be going up a ways, where everything is so green and darkness within the trees,

We make our camp for the night, ready in the morning for our walk below the hidden sky.

Tonight a campfire, some food, laughing with a friend, and sleeping under a star or two,

Morning light shines down upon the land, we pack our things and head into the forest.

Dark, very dark as we make our way deeper among the ancient trees, where are we,

There’s something up ahead, can you see, a light in the forest, we’ll be okay.

        Keith Garrett

    A MOMENT IN THE SUN

Has it always been mine since the beginning of my time?

I was born to run, I was born to chase the wind, so I run.

I’ve walked along the shore, my feet wet in the sand,

Holding hands, by myself I stand alone, a man.

There’s been at times much fun, I am not done,

Friends and loved ones vanished as the hourglass runs.

When will it come, I ask! This moment, my moment in the sun,

It was yesterday, appeared again today, did I not see,

Tomorrow will i wonder when it is to be as it lives all around me.

I had dreams of a girl once upon a time, she came to visit me,

She came to say hi, for just a moment in time, a moment gone by.

I’ve had a moment in the sun, a moment to run, to chase the wind,

I’ve had a love who went away with the passing day; she flies.

My journey takes me to a place, but who follows behind,

On another day will catch me, slow down to that which may be.

                                     Keith Garrett

   " TIME STANDS NOT STILL"

A clock may stop in the middle of a day,
Time keeps on ticking one’s life away.

Measured by years, the number you are,
How old will you get, will your existence go far.

Months are a piece of time in your life,
As each passes by, shorter becomes your flight.

Weeks are measured seven days at a time,
Fifty-two as twelve months go by.

A day has twenty-four hours for you,
The sun comes up and goes down too.

Hour by hour our days will pass,
No slowing them down so our lives will not go fast.

What is a minute but sixty ticks at a time,
Second by second older we find.

Keith Garrett

          IT'S ALMOST THANKSGIVING

This November has quite a bit of anger and stress,

There is mistrust, and the country is becoming more divided.

Crime and rioting are an everyday occurrence in our nation and world,

It’s almost Thanksgiving in a land of hostility and resentment.

As the holiday gets closer and the year’s end closes in, we think,

We all lose or gain something; struggles may be few or too much,

At times in our own world, fighting for our own daily survival.

You are fortunate if on Thanksgiving there is a roof over your head,

A bed you just came from, a warm fire, and some love.

To wake in good health, at times taken for granted, is precious,

It’s almost Thanksgiving, a little less anger, a helping hand or smile.

                      Keith Garrett

   A DRIFTING MAN

On a road of travel without any end,

Rests his weary body wherever he can.

Sleeps in the night hidden from sight,

Days of length, the next stop is any place.

From town to town he wanders with hope,

Worry fills his head about that next meal.

Find a job and stay in one place a short while,

Friends and smiles disappear with the miles.

A drifting man sees much of the land,

Meets many faces, lonely where he stands.

A price he pays to live in such a way,

There’s a gift in seeing the world,

What’s taken away is the peace of settling in one place.

He chooses a path; he’s a wandering man,

Today he’s here, gone again.

           Keith Garrett

             A FALL DAY 

Morning is filled with a fog coming off the lake,

A beautiful sight, chilly is the breeze, very early.

Quiet is the way, a dream that I will have this day,

Trees stand watching all around, their leaves upon the ground.

A beautiful scene the lake shows when soon the fog does clear,

Everyone is still asleep on this Thanksgiving day, a fire burning.

Chopped wood is what is needed to keep a home warm on this holiday,

On this Fall day we will share our lives in peace and love.

I can hear the voices of children; awake now is the family,

Relatives will arrive soon; wife is inside preparing a turkey.

A Fall day in November, will there ever be one like it again?

                    Keith Garrett

A DAY WITHOUT SYMPATHY

I awoke in the morning; I fell out of bed,

A bad headache but no aspirin for my head.

I went for a cup of coffee but only an empty jar,

Maybe some toast but the butter was at the store.

I went to get the paper in a puddle of mud,

The dog chewed up my shoes. What am I to do?

Got dressed and headed for the car, off to work I’ll go,

The car wasn’t there, stolen wouldn’t you know.

Went to call the police, locked myself out of the house,

Headed for the bus stop, watched the bus drive on by.

I flagged down a cab, please get me to work,

No wallet in my pocket, I gave him my watch.

I walked through the door, fearing I was so late,

This is your day off, you don’t work today.

No way home so I put out my thumb,

No one would stop, I walked all the way.

I had no key, Oh! what a day,

I broke the window, the door was open all the way.

My T.V. was gone, the phone did not work,

Nothing to eat, time for some sleep.

I went to my room, the bed was gone,

A day without sympathy, on the floor I did lie.

 Keith Garrett