A PIECE OF THE FAMILY PUZZLE

Oh my god! I am finding my family, I lost them forever,

Were they kept from me through the years, another side?

They do live, exist in another time zone, through much of my time,

Since a time when I was so young, I have not seen these blood

Relatives again.

Distance and time take away what can never be replaced, lost years,
and some family,

They went about their days just as we out here did, cheated, I feel,
But here I am.

A piece of the family puzzle has been found with some effort
And wanting,

Still far in the distance, as we have become a little closer, one
Day at a time.

A family has grown back there in the Eastern snow. I want to go,

A lifetime ago, I did walk down streets, stand in the snow
Where they still do.

We are separated by choice and decisions made a long time ago,

A piece of the family puzzle has been located, like a treasure
Discovered.

Lost between the East and the West, wherever did those days go?

                          Keith Garrett

                                              250 YEARS,  1776

We are free,  what happened so long ago like a dream,

Let me take you back in time to a land so far away.

A King’s army, a tyrant who ruled back in England,

Many ships traveled across the sea to take our shores.

The militia and army were ready to fight for our freedom,

In 1776, Redcoats and Dragoons approached our shores,

Families sacrificed, and young men died on this American land.

It’s been 250 years since we fought and defeated the British army,

Ghosts of many patriots wander the land; in their graves, they are free.

Keith Garrett

Far between sundown’s finish, and midnight’s

Broken toll

We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashin’

As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds

Seemin’ to be the chimes of freedom flashin’

Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight

Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight

And for each and every underdog, soldier in the night

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin’

Even though a cloud’s white curtain, in a far off corner flashed

And the hypnotic, splattered mist was slowly liftin’

Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones

Condemned to drift or else be kept from driftin’

Tolling for the searching ones on their speechless, seeking trail

For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale

And for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin’

Starry-eyed and laughin’, as i recall when we were caught

Kept by no track of hours for they hang suspended

As we listened one last time and we watched with one last look

Spellbound and swallowed till the tollin’ ended

Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed

For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse

And for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe

And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin’

            OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE

A revolution was on, they would not own us anymore,

A tyrant, a King’s army would soon challenge a nation.

The American people were ready to fight, with cannon balls at night,

For so many nights, a red, smoky glare lit up the war-torn skies.

Their British army tested and taunted, men fell to a bloody end,

Our fathers and uncles, brothers and friends, sacrificed for their land,

We fought back, took down those redcoats, and the dragoons fell to the ground.

Our flag was still there, tattered and torn, but had risen from the fire and smoke,

We have grown to be an American nation, as we are more than two hundred years later.

Keith Garrett

In seventeen -seventy six we took our stand, to

Fight a tyrant far away,

We were slaves, if we did not pay then they would take.

By the name of King George, he ruled from across the sea,

When we decided there would be no more, he sent an army

Of ships to invade our shores.

Cannonballs into the air, gunfire and killing everywhere,

The sky lit up throughout the night.

A smell of gun powder, we did not run from the fight,

Swords raised from the Red coat’s hands.

Some of us would die, many would pay the price,

Proud to take that stand, once upon a time.

We pushed them back, these invaders from a foreign land,

They turned and ran back home to a ruler far from here.

Our flag was raised, we were free,

They would come again, but we would bring them to

Their knees.

Keith Garrett

.

       INDEPENDENCE DAY

Far across the sea, a British army would prepare an attack,

A tyrant of a King sits on his throne, plotting to take from us.

They’ll be coming, we will rise and fight for our Independence,

Into the Boston Harbor, these massive ships approach with booming cannons.

The night sky lit up from bombs bursting, and screaming Musket fire is heard,

“The red coats are coming! Stand up! Load your weapons and hold your ground”

This is an American nation, the enemy will not defeat us, our flag will fly high,

Fireworks on the fourth of July, memories of seventeen seventy-five, we survived.

               Keith Garrett

      GHOST OF A PATRIOT

In 1775, back in a revolutionary time, a man picked up his gun,

Leaving his home to fight and defend the land he worked hard for.

A King’s army would travel across the sea to take away a certain freedom,

Boston Harbor, where cannonballs would fly across a night sky.

Many would lie dead as battle raged on, Dragoons invaded our land,

A patriot, one man who in the end would be remembered by few.

There was a fight in him as great as any other in this war on farmland.

Like many others, he was a man with a family, wife, children, and friends.

This man perhaps went by the name of Jonathan, not to be remembered today.

He did die for his country way back in 1775, a patriot with a life,

Does he wander along the thirteen colonies, this ghost of a patriot?

     Keith Garrett