SHADOW ON A CURB


 A boy I remember who once sat on a curb,


 On a warm, sunny, day over fifty years ago, I say.


 Listening to the airplanes going by, fly so high,


 Hands rested on his face, a street and a place far
 Away.

 He would stare from where he sat, a thinking child,


 I remember him well when he lost that smile.


 A car that no longer moved, the life in it lost,


 Now the memory of a man who sat at the wheel.


 A place and a street that exists till this day,


 A curb, where once a boy no more dreamed and played.


 What has faded now is a man and a car,


 A boy who aged more than a father who at one time


 Carried him on his shoulders.


 Now from the trees, only a shadow on a curb you'll see,


 A memory of a boy who sat and stared at a car driven 


 By a father who he can no longer see.

                                                                                                                   Keith Garrett   

                                                                                             
                     SHADOW RIDERS


 Men crumble,  their sins they can not hide, 
 They run,

 From the expressions on their faces, aging lines 
 Of haunt.

 One of them runs, the other chases, they both run
 Together,

 One tries to hide his guilt and pain, the other 
 Chases To forget.

 Shadow riders, at different times they are the rider, 
 the other prey,

 They are from a time of civil unrest, they kill and  
 Then Die in a place for them.

 It takes its toll, the hunt and the run, tears from 
 Men Dry up in the sun,

 Nothing more to be said, two dying men soon would be 
 Dead, Blood on their hands.

 Ones knife in the desert sand, a gun left on a 
 Deserted land,

 Walk in a different direction, shadow riders are 
 Never seen again.
                          Keith Garrett

                    QUITTER


 He gave up on himself as he did on others,


 To try something of a challenge gave him much fear.


 Instead of standing tall, and helping a fellow human 
 Being

 Was to much trouble for him,


 He did not understand the worth of either one.


 He did not become strong by facing his fear,


 Nor a good and descent man because he never 
 Cared about much.

 There was good in him but he took not the time 
 To work or overcome difficult tasks,

             
 The path he walked became quiet and lonely.


 Because he was known as a quitter and never gave,


 In return not a soul cared to help him,


 They also in return gave up on him.


 He was quit on, as he was the quitter.


                    Keith Garrett

             MAGICAL PLACE FOR YOU AND ME


 They exist In fairytale land, step from books 
 Written,

 Remember when you were a child, what did you see?


 They stood tall on the big screen, a never ending 
 Dream,

 Did you believe It was real? In my world, I could 
 Truly feel.

 A magical place for you and me where all the 
 Possibilities,

 A wooden boy comes to life, his nose grows with lies,


 Pinocchio would one day become a real boy.


 He did not wish to grow up, always dressed In clothes 
 Of green,

 Fly's high in the sky, Peter Pan lives a magical life.


 Cinderella had not much, a slave to the labors of mean,


 A slipper lost would bring a prince charming her way.


 A girl treated terribly by a woman of such wickedness,


  With the help of seven dwarfs, a prince will save her,


  A magical place for you and me, a world of Walt Disney.

                        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 what was,

 Life and all that's within it is reduced to memories, 
 Things of yesterday.

 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

                LAST NIGHT I DREAMED


 Last night I dreamed I lost a child,

 The horror, sadness, all emotions seemed so real.

 As if someone had taken him away,

 Searched did I everywhere, oh! the pain.

 In my dream another gone, one disappearing,

 This was not real as I was dreaming.

 In my dream, I saw paper napkins floating downstream,

 Representing the loss, them going away.

 In my dream, I awoke, a dream within a dream,

 As if I now understood the full meaning.

 When I did awaken I felt relief,

 They did not die, they were not taken.

 It was truly understood, my children were now gone,

 There was some loss as they would not return.

 My children of whom I loved so much were reborn

 Into the adult world,

 I'll forever miss the laughter and play of the 
 Young innocent ones.
                       Keith Garrett    

                                                                                                 
                       HER SOUL,

                  A THOUSAND YEARS OLD.


 Her face, a look that says she comes from a  
 Different Place,

 A smile that lights up within a darkness, so 
 Young but Old.

 She sings out with an operatic sound, mesmerizing 
 To the ear,

 Into a state of wonder that will take you away,  
 Watch her eyes.

 Appears does she as a little girl, maybe from a 
 Long ago world,

 Sings as if she has lived lifetimes, her voice 
 Echoes with years.

 It is that her soul could be that of a thousand 
 Years old.
                     Keith Garrett

                                                                                      
                 JUDGMENT HAS A FACE


 From behind a door, walking down a street, who are 
 They?

 They wander around, they look without a friendly sound.


 With paper and pen, not a friend as they may smile 
 But pretend,

 Watched you are as you walk, speak, examined over 
 A way you dress.

 Judge me with your thoughts but what is there to see 
 In you?

 I am judged by those who I never again see, strangers, 
 Some family.

 Judgment has a face, not the same as it changes from 
 Day to place,

 We are judged with the rotation of our world, travels 
 With the wind.

                       Keith Garrett

                                                                                        
                 KEYS TO THE KINGDOM


 For whatever it's worth you came out on top,


 Power in the hands of the right and wrong is scary.


 You are human but who are you really behind those 
 Eyes,

 Through the years, from any shore, leaders are seen 
 With fear and war.

 Behind guarded doors of a house, Palaces and castles 
 On foreign soil,

 Keys to the Kingdom are held by those with or 
 Without morals.

 There are battles fought to hold onto or gain 
 Possession of many keys,

 Keys to secret places, vaults, and of course, keys 
 To the end of the world.

 Some keys should be destroyed, taken from them who 
 Misuse Keys to the kingdom.
                                      Keith Garrett

            IN THE COURSE OF A LIFETIME


 Born we are, each of us with a purpose unless 
 Altered,

 Nothing stops what we do depending on anything in 
 Our way.

 We see so much with these eyes of mystery given 
 From the master,

 What about those without sight, is there a gift 
 That comes from here.

 Nothing taken for granted when you never saw what 
 You are missing,

 You now see with your heart and mind, this is what 
 Challenges your time,

 We travel a thousand roads trying to choose the best 
 Way to go, We don't know.

 Decisions of intelligence, luck along the way, a 
 Prayer of hope, And we may be okay,

 In the course of a lifetime, we pass each other by,    
 Shake hands, Laugh, And say goodbye.

                         Keith Garrett