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

Across the open sea, through raging waters they sailed,

They were the King’s army, they thought they would prevail.

Believing to be superior over a common man,

An ego much too large when they stormed our shores.

Redcoats, Dragoons, charged upon us to take freedom away,

Everywhere, flashes in the night, but we would not turn and run,

A flag of colors, red, white, and blue, waived through many days

And nights of bloody fight.

Torn, dirty, and burned, it would not disappear,

Through the winter cold, into the summer heat,

Our men battled, families suffered and sacrificed

For what seemed to be an eternity.

Beyond the smoke, for so long, flashes in the night,

We stood our ground, we saw the morning light.

Keith Garrett

Across the sky on the fourth of july,

Bombs bursting into the night.

Echoing the sounds from long ago,

Independence day is celebrated in the here and now.

Fighting for freedom on this land,

Dying for what they believed as they made their stand.

To the men, women, and children, who gave their lives,

We honor that which was achieved back in a time.

Across the sea they set sail,

To take from us, but would not prevail.

In eighteen twelve came to us another fight,

They invaded our land by day and by night.

On our shore, the enemy approached,

With guns and swords, ready to attack.

We fought this battle, many gave their lives,

For what they were doing was surely right.

Keith Garrett

        A PATRIOTS STAND

At the mercy of a tyrant’s throne,

From far away, across the sea, they owned our homes.

A decision was made to take a stand,

No more would they be in charge of this land.

Ships sailed by night and by day; they would come,

Freedom is not free, red, white, and blue.

Dragoons, red coats, approached the shore,

Cannons firing, bombs, and gunfire lit up the nights.

Face to face, marching across the land, enemy at hand,

Fallen soldiers, the blood of men soaked our land.

Watching from their homes was not such a pretty sight,

Death came to visit, something of an endless fight.

For the fathers and sons who fought side by side,

A flag of freedom was raised, united in a revolutionary time.

Many died but did not die in vain,

They live on each day the stars and stripes are waved.

                               Keith Garrett

             AN AMERICAN NATION

To be free from a tyrant far across the sea, blood would be seen,

Men would gather as a vote would change the way life would be.

The right to live as they chose on an American land, gun in hand,

Farmers put down their pitchforks and swore to fight for their rights.

Militia was formed, sons were to take up arms, and on their land, a fight,

This is an American nation! Colonies of thirteen would stand together.

The British soldiers would march on land, ships of many upon the sea,

A war does not discriminate; it is not prejudiced, as men, women, and
Children do die.

Many will lie upon the land, forgotten as the years drift on by,

A patriot holds a flag of stars and stripes, strong in his hands, waving
As the battle rages.

Bullets fly, cannonballs ring loud in the sky, swords take away lives from
Both sides,

An American nation! Their spirits sing out from more than two hundred
Years ago,

Believed in and cared for a land so long ago, the American way has decayed,
Lost in today’s world.
Keith Garrett

   A REVOLUTION

They fired their guns, firing cannonballs into the air,

Listen for the sound under the smoke-filled skies, beneath
THE SETTING SUN.

Stand and fight! see as they march through a battlefield of endless,

Dying, fright,
The enemy is among us, they’ve come to take this land,

Across the sea, they traveled to take all that we have.

Children learn fast, boys become men overnight,

Arm yourself with a weapon, blood covers the land,

Freedom is the Issue at hand.

Day by day, seasons will change,

Beyond the snow-covered winters,

The heated Summer, we’ll still stand.

They too came to fight, we’re ready to conquer,

Echoes of our fight ring loud into the fiery, lit-up skies
By night.

A revolution, we stand united as loved ones die,

Our home will not be sacrificed; we’ll give our lives,

We will not be defeated, many will die,

Listen to the cries in the night.

             Keith Garrett  

           A REVOLUTION

They fired their guns, firing cannonballs into the air,


Listen for the sound under the smoke-filled skies, beneath the setting sun.


 Stand and fight! see as they march through a battlefield of endless, dying, fright.


 The enemy is among us, they've come to take this land,


 Across the sea, they traveled to take all that we have.


 Children learn fast, boys become men overnight,


Arm yourself with a weapon, blood covers the land,


 Freedom is the Issue at hand.


 Day by day, seasons will change,


Beyond the snow-covered winters,


 The heated Summer, we'll still stand.


They too came to fight, we're ready to conquer,


Echoes of our fight ring loud into the fiery, lit-up skies by night.


 A revolution, we stand united as loved ones die,


Our home will not be sacrificed; we'll give our lives,


 We will not be defeated, many will die,


 Listen to the cries in the night.                                                                         


           Keith Garrett  

The Revolutionary war began in seventeen seventy five,

Many would die,

In seventeen seventy six the would declare war and independence

Against the British empire.

From Delaware to Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay,

Maryland, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Providence plan,

They stood together as one to have an American land.

General George Washington led this battle to be free,

Ships invaded the Bays, cannon fire echoed like drumbeats

Into many life-giving nights.

The sound of a death march across the open land,

Many a man would fall to the ground, and never again stand.

Hand to hand, they would take their stand,

Waving a new flag of colors, gunpowder scent filled

The land.

Two hundred and fifty years ago there was

War on our land,

Independence was declared, sacrifice of blood

Stained the hand.

On the fourth of July remember, the thousands

Who had died,

The war ended in seventeen -eighty three, listen

To the wind, hear their cries.

Keith Garrett