JOURNEY THROUGH TITLES

I wish I were blind to some of the things I’ve seen,

While out in the street, many sad and haunting things were to be.

Could somebody tell me where Thunder Road lives?

I heard it was somewhere down by the river.

You know it takes a leap of faith to live through struggles,

Each morning we wake to the rising, it has meaning.

When we feel alone, it only takes a little human touch,

Otherwise, at times we just want to fade away.

Once walking the streets of Philadelphia, I felt trapped,

Before me was a darkness on the edge of town.

Have you ever had a lonesome day? Everything seemed to be missing,

You were the nothing man, searching for your land of hope and dreams.

I went back to my hometown, and I had to drive all night,

Atlantic City was the place where my lucky day.

It was warm out, everywhere there were girls in their Summer clothes,

There I stood, living proof that life is good.

In my thoughts, like Springsteen, I want to say I’m a rocker,

You know it’s a man’s job to take care of his family.

I believe everyone is born to run, and I know two hearts are better than one.

I’ll work for your love, sweetheart, because I love you.

The wrestler takes it one day at a time; he survives,

In certain situations, I am tougher than the rest.

Some are forced to live in places that resemble a jungle land

Remember, to survive in this world, the phrase is none but the brave.

                     Keith Garrett

          HANGMAN

On a dirty street, in a western town back in time, the gallows,

He is the hangman, stands always still as the shadows drift with time.

He is everywhere, face covered always in a mask of darkness,

Not a ruler but he holds the authority to life and death.

A noose hovers, it sways with the wind, waiting for those whom sin,

You didn’t just break the law, the ultimate crime lived in your mind.

A life you did take, murder will get you a date with the hangman,

Many years ago when life was hard on the trail, guns an every day tool,

When a man chooses the wrong road, decisions of criminal deeds will do him in.

The hangman will watch as you climb the stairs, each step you will sweat,

A choice you have made, time to pay, the hangman does have his day.

                                        Keith Garrett

        AN ANGRY MAN

Anger, so much mistrust for the world, he’s angry,

That which he can’not control, bothers him so.

Nothing wrong with letting it out, control is what it’s about,

Angry at that which has passed, let this go, an angry man knows.

Feeling at times the universe has let him down, the fire rages,

Inside he feels the water boil, what to do when there’s no place to run.

He pounds his fists against the stone wall, thoughts of vengeance stir,

Get even is one of many stories made from a mans angry mind.

An angry man does not see the road clearly, thinking is altered,

Eats him up inside, wasted energy but how is he to do it right.?

He has been wronged, he is an angry man and needs a smart plan,

An angry man he can be, can an angry man soon find his peace.

                    Keith Garrett

    HE TOLD ME OF HIS LIFE

As he sat down in his rocking chair he began to speak,

With a smile, he invited me to sit and went about his story.

His life as a child, at the beginning of a war for Independence,

On a farm in South Carolina, he lived with a father, brothers, sisters.

He went on to tell of adventures in the Summer just before it happened,

A big house, great times with family, working the farm each day was tiring.

He must have been about ninety years old now, the war and those days long gone,

A childhood recalled, swimming in the pond with a friend or two, the night’s moon.

He told me of this war being all around them, nothing would be the same, much change,

Tears in his eyes as he described that time and place where brothers and family died.

He sits in his chair today, many years away from there, he lives in that house today,

He sits in his chair on that porch where as a child he played, he told me of his life.

                                         Keith Garrett

  "BILLY  JACK"

Hatred was not what he was about, time would make him hate worldly things,

Hurt was something he did not want to put upon any man, he would be forced to fight.

He had a temper, beliefs that would put him and those he loved in harm’s way,

He was not wrong, society and those of corruption decided he was not in the right.

Integrity of one man, again he would stand as one tin soldier against the wrong,

He stands at times alone, not without love of the people, against the corrupted souls.

“Billy Jack” I read about you as a child, I sat under a tree as a dreaming boy for a while,

A book that made me want to see more, A movie, a man, and much, much, more.

You were a war hero just as you did see what was wrong with government and war,

Never did you run or hide, you went away at times to find peace, to be alone.

Not a criminal or murderer as you defended against those whom would do you wrong,

Society saw things a different way when you took off your boots and raised a gun your way,

On the bloody morning after one tin soldier rides away then back he would stay.

                    Keith Garrett

          MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

I’ve drifted across the open sea. I wait for you to find me,

In a bottle, I have been placed, a message that I am alive.

You are no longer there anymore, but I let you know I exist,

A thought of what you meant to me, a thought of what I once meant.

If my message gets to you yet, then again, how can this possibly be?

You are a memory from yesterday, I am a thought that sails the sea.

Time does not stop, it has no sympathy, it makes what is a what was,

Life and all that’s within it is reduced to memories, things of yesterday.

A message in a bottle is what I am. If you find me, take me for what I am,

You are forever now; I am something that will one day fade away.

                                   Keith Garrett

            AUNT PENELOPE

She could do such unusual things without much thought,

Out of bottle caps, she could make a crazy hat.

She could jump really high, almost fly,

Close her eyes and make an apple pie.

She could walk backwards while tying her shoes,

Dance around a pool while reading a book.

She could play the harp without her hands,

Tell you the time in just about any land.

She could watch a movie without sound,

Recite every line while spinning around.

Aunt Penelope was a strange one indeed,

At the age of one hundred and fifty-three,

Old Aunt Penelope is still but a fantasy.

   Keith Garrett

          A POEM TODAY

Thoughts, many sights from my mind, visions from the past,

Dreams about tomorrow, what may be, a poem today.

To write is a beautiful thing, whatever you want it to be,

Change the world with a stroke of a pen, fact or fantasy begins.

Share with those who write and dream, those who do see,

Share our stories together as we travel the world and universe.

We can take ourselves and others away to unusual places,

A poem today about the love between two, the sun and the moon.

Hopes and dreams, struggles and pain of life, what keeps us strong,

A poem today that puts a smile on a face, comfort, and strength for a moment.

                     Keith Garrett