LAUGHTER IN THE WOODS

How deep the woods, into the mist of the early morning,

Through the trees my feet walk upon the aging leaves.

Can’t see the sky beyond the trees so high,

Quiet is the sound as i move along.

Something there, an echo through the cool, wet air,

Laughter far off in the distance, no one there.

I search as it calls to me, my curiosity,

Listen to it i do with no direction be known.

Are you there, are you anywhere, someone,

Laughter in the woods, only laughter in the woods.

How strange it seems, am i only in a dream,

The sounds of neverending laughter are here.

Laughter in the woods, nothing but laughter in the woods.

Keith Garrett

A PERFECT CRIME

They think that they are of something unique,

No one ever is watching, no one sees they think.

They plot and they plan, not so logical, woman or man,

Thoughts that roam their scary, sick minds,

They act calm and kind as they plan ones demise.

A perfect crime of many sorts fill the criminal minds,

They seem not to worried about being caught at the time.

Going on with their deeds believing they will always be free,

When they plan a perfect crime, what is in their minds.

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

YORBA LINDA,

AND MY PARENTS

Memories of Yorba Linda and my parents are something from a dream,

It seems like it was yesterday, so many years ago when we were together.

We had our house on Fernglen Drive, we lived in the moment, no worries,

From nineteen seventy-two to nineteen seventy-seven we were a family there.

Five years seemed like a lifetime back then, so many great times in that house.

Not everything or day was perfect, We all had our own struggles and bad times.

My Mothers name was Barbara, unfortunately, she passed away on March 16, 2019.

I remember them both so young and alive, busy lives like every other parent.

My father had passed away in nineteen sixty-nine, Halloween night, horrible!

Doug Keener is my stepfather, I recently found out that he was diagnosed with

Dementia. We go from young with energy to not just getting older but these

Diseases that take everything from us. Yorba Linda was my favorite place in life.

Barbara and Doug had fights and laughter, nights of family dinners and watching T.V.

They spent time with friends, out to dinner and family trips that would come to an end.

Yorba Linda still rests there in my mind, with the hills that once were, the old streets.

A house that still is, who lives in it who has no idea or thoughts of us in it.

My parents did have lives once upon a time in a house upon a hill, Yorba Linda.

My mother is gone now, a stepfather who is now getting ready to slowly disappear.

He will at some point forget that house, a wife he once had, good and bad times.

Yorba Linda and all of us will be gone from a man’s mind, memories of great days.

My mother was once a beautiful lady, she took care of her family and had troubles

of her own. When I think about seven kids in the house and two stepsisters over

for the Summer, I don’t know how they did it, a lot of work and a drink or two in hand.

Yorba Linda and my parents was a long time ago, memories that rest in cobwebs

In a long-ago town.

Keith Garrett

A BOY NAMED PAUL

I knew a boy by the name of Paul,

He went away late Summer or Fall.

When he was little he played in the snow,

These things I remember from long ago.

I think of the smile he had on his face,

It fades from my memory yet there’s still a trace.

When I think of him it reminds me,

Of just how fragile this life can be.

It makes me feel special for he came to me,

Just a short time before life set him free.

There was a boy by the name of Paul,

He laughed and played but that’s not all.

He had a life of which I speak,

Cut too short, it did not reach its peak.

I’ll think of him as you do,

A soul in heaven, a part of you.

For his Mother, Father, and Sister.

Keith Garrett

HILLS’ OF DARKNESS

Through the hills’ I walk to find a place,

Of peace and happiness for a home, I’ll make.

Escape I will from times of darkness,

Into the light of day where I want to be.

Leave behind things’ of the past,

Onward I walk till I find my path.

As my travels’ through the hills’ continue,

See do I clearer from my eyes.

These hills’ of darkness I leave behind,

Out In the open, of better things’ I’ll find.

Keith Garrett

BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT

The sun shines bright, it then fades into the dark of night,

Just as the heart and soul of a human crawl from the light into dark.

To hide from the pain and sorrow of a tragic day, hide inside and go away,

Try and forget in ways that at the time seem fine to a broken mind.

Trauma is a most unpleasant visitor as it has no sympathy or kindness,

Steals from one the smile and sometimes brings much fear, forever scars.

Falling, a deep hole in which a soul believes no escape, hurting the self appears the way,

A path of destruction with no turning back, but wait! there is surely a chance.

You found your way lost, between darkness and light, you must fight to make it back,

Something has happened that ripped you apart, not fair but it was God’s will.

He knew you would fall, your test would be to find your way back from the darkness,

You climbed out of that hole and with his hand, you also found your way back to the light,

Today holds a piece of yesterday, forever a thought, life does move ahead, another today.

Keith Garrett