ONCE ON THANKSGIVING

It was close to four hundred years ago, this story,

They traveled far across the water for a new life.

These English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock,

The first Thanksgiving happened in sixteen twenty-one.

It was not your today sit-down supper, much different,

Not a turkey, no cranberry or mashed potatoes, a different feast.

They would not have survived if not for help from the Wampanoag Indians,

The winters were very hard. Today we have it much easier to be thankful.

The first Thanksgiving lasted three days; duck was a main course,

The Wampanoags’ leader’s name was Massasoit, once on Thanksgiving.

               Keith Garrett

        BENEATH THE AUTUMN SKY

From up so high life goes on down below, this is so,

It is seen from above, from the heaven where we are to go.

Beneath the Autumn sky everything lives and has its time,

There’s a cycle of life, all things rotating as if it were a dance.

Watch as the leaves disappear from the trees, falling together,

They vanish, crumble, and blow away with the wind.

Beneath the Autumn sky there are colors of orange, yellow, and red,

Shades of beauty, which are here for the Fall season; they soon slip away.

A cool breeze in the air, animals collecting food for a Winter cold,

Beneath the Autumn sky there is life moving as all things must die.

                                             Keith Garrett

       AMONGST THE AUTUMN TREES

Into the shadows, underneath the shaded trees,

Footsteps on a carpet of leaves falling like rain.

Glance do I at what’s above, flashes of sunlight,

Gleaming through living statues of brilliant color.

A gentle breeze whispers past through the branches,

Ornaments let go of the arms that hold them, floating

quietly and gently to the ground.

Further into the Autumn day I venture,

All is calm with nature as it invites me to share the day.

Amongst the Autumn trees lies much more than one dares to dream,

A never-ending cycle of life that isn’t always visible.

                           Keith Garrett
                                        

     AUTUMN COMES ALIVE!

As the Summer ends and the night air turns cool,

A feeling of Fall comes to us all.

All around us the shadows change in their own way,

The sun turns in early and shortens our day.

Through the trees the wind blows, dropping the leaves to the ground,

Their colors have all changed as they make not a sound.

It’s time for pumpkins and many more things,

Autumn comes alive! with the plants that it brings.

Into this new season with the hope that it brings,

These Fall colors are shared with all.

                      Keith Garrett

                ABOUT ME

I have a name; it tells no meaning of what’s inside,

I am not a rich man, but hidden treasures to be found.

When I love, it is that my love is true; I now love,

Wander I do not from another’s heart, faithfully.

When it is that I’m angry, then it is that I’m sad,

Patience has been discovered, not a patient man.

A thinker am I of many things, dreams fill my heart,

When I give my heart, then to the given must be a precious gift.

Jealousy is an unseen monster that teases my soul,

It holds no worth, Imagination of the mind, my fears.

Trust is a much-needed part of my life; I must trust,

Therefore, the need for trust is needed, trust in me.

I will give all that’s in me if, in return, I am allowed to give,

About me, I give you my heart; I share with you my life.

                   Keith Garrett

           A NEW WORLD

Chances taken, sacrifices made as they set sail for hope and a new life,

Far across the sea, battling hunger and disease, they traveled a dream.

Not always was this a happy ending, as many ships of the time were lost,

Hundreds of years ago, families and friends, those seeking a better life, took a chance.

Massive ships set course for unknown places, praying to conquer the ocean’s hostility,

The world was a mysterious unknown piece of work still not understood.

It would take much courage and a voyage more complicated and rougher than imagined,

Plymouth Rock would one day be seen; a new world, this would be a land of new things.

There would be much sickness, hardship, and survival would be most difficult,

They would settle and slowly get to understand the ways of the Indian people.

The first Thanksgiving is not clear, and no way to really know how it really was,

A new world it was for those who were from another land who wanted change.

Here’s to a new world and to all the Thanksgivings before and today.

                        Keith Garrett
      

    A NEW WORLD BEGINS'

Tomorrow I leave today behind; this year vanishes,

Gone into memories, put away like antiques on a shelf.

What’s ahead of me only God in heaven can know,

Much lies ahead of me in this land of Imagined dreams’

Left behind is yesterday, many things to cry about, too say goodbye,

Today a new world begins as if to be born a baby next to mother.

I’ll see things that were not known to me, days since past,

More that will be understood by a man with a heart that heals.

Lessons learned but not without teaching have they been,

This world goes around and around, so what have I found.

As a door that’s been opened, mysteriously the wind blows shut,

A window lifted, opened to a place of freedom for which Is me.

               Keith Garrett

       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