THE EMPTY HOUSE

Behind a set of pine trees, so big and tall they are,

Where the sun shines through the branches up high.

There is a house, an empty house that’s old and weathered,

Around it is shrubs and a pond that rests for many years.

I can feel there is a story here, one to be told from long ago,

A cabin like home where once lived someone, a family gone now.

Wood so old, cracked and worn as if a hundred years ago,

Made of brick and stone, a chimney where fires for warmth were formed.

I walk the grounds where once walked a lonely man, children were born,

Echoes of a fiddle played in the early evening light, listen to laughter from a time.

The empty house has stood through time, imagine this land and what was going on,

Cobwebs where once life walked around, not a sound, the empty house, alone.

Keith Garrett

SECRET FRIEND

I was a small boy when first my friend appeared,

So long ago as now it is that I am much older than.

A friend that was there whenever I was lonely and scared,

I did talk to back then, laughed and ran in a field of weeds.

As I got a year older this friend was not by my side, wandered,

I would meet others and my friend would stand across the street,

Pacing back and forth, I was growing older as my friend remained a child.

Slowly I had not much in common with my secret friend, the games changed,

The more I wandered and found, the further the distance between us.

My secret friend was leaving me, I couldn’t hold on as much as I thought I wanted,

My friend was leaving me as it was time to go, just as I went away, a friend no more.

Keith Garrett

VIEW FROM A CLIFF

Alone, high above the wandering ocean is where I spend my day,

Wind can not be seen but it makes a sound, feel It all around.

Thinking Is a constant thing that I do, Free under a clear sky I can breathe,

The sun shines high in the sky, somewhere beyond, heaven watches down.

For miles and endless miles from so up high I can see forever the ocean wide,

There are birds and seagulls soaring across the sky, I stand here wondering about life.

Where I am Is oh! so high but what Is high, to reach above and touch the stars,

Waves crashing against the rocks with a powerful force, such an awesome sound.

Above the world, It seems as this view from a cliff Is a most amazing sight,

With the dark of night approaching, I say goodbye to a beautiful place.

Keith Garrett

THE BRAVE MAN PUTS DOWN HIS SWORD

Anger eats’ at his heart, hurt devours’ this mans’ loving soul,

He fights’ within himself as he seeks the peace of restful sleep.

Listen to this man as he asks to be heard among the screaming noise,

A battle rages between pain and the happiness so desired for so long.

What does a man see when hate and mistrust rule his hopes and dreams’,

He seeks to walk out from the darkness and let the fight die with yesterday.

The brave man awakes to his morning and breathes the hopeful day,

With his hand he takes from his belt the sorrow, let It go away.

The brave man puts down his sword fore there exists another way,

The battle needs not to be won, the war created and destroyed by only he.

Keith Garrett

NOTHING

At one time or another everything was nothing,

One day in time nothing would and will turn to everything.

Nothing is a word used in many ways, decay into nothing,

” You are nothing” can be a lifetime emotional scar that haunts.

What are you doing? a friend or child may respond with nothing!

I did nothing today, you must have done something, nothing can not be done.

Nothing can be so lonely, as it can not be seen, it does not have any dreams,

” I have nothing to live for” listen close, as we all have the greatest things to live for.

I was nothing until I met you, I was more than I thought before it was me and you,

Nothing is only a word, it is a sound that many a soul has heard with a word.

Keith Garrett

STRENGTH

The lion Is strong and fearless as he roams’ the jungle,

It is known that he is there, his crown Invisible but seen.

There Is strength In a man who stands’ up for what he believes,

He is strong and powerful with words’ of knowledge or silence.

Doing what Is hardest, doing what scares one but must be done,

Facing ones’ self In the mirror and admitting he has faults’.

Strength Is letting your emotions’ show but kept In control,

Knowing Inside there’s a man although vulnerable.

I am a man, I have strength.

Keith Garrett

LUCKY MAN

To each day he rises a bit sleepy eyed but he rises,

Clouded may the sky be of darkness or sunshine.

He walks the land taking in the air blessed upon,

What is seen by this man is love and life, it’s seen.

He knows the magical art of making one laugh,

Now the laughter lost by he has been re-discovered.

Treasures of happiness are all around, easily noticed,

No more blindness of an eclipse to the sight, lucky man.

Nothing needed, everything’s at his feet, the grasp of his hand,

How he did not see does not matter, lucky man, what a lucky man.

Keith Garrett

WHERE DOES PRINCESS LIVE?

WHERE DOES SIMON LIVE?

Where do you think Princess lives, does she live in a castle tower,

Does she live in a dungeon, a storybook fable from long ago.?

Could Princess live in your mind, where does Princess live,

Tell me what you’re thinking, “Princess” tell me where you live.

Where does Simon live, tell me what Simon says, are you, Simon,

Does Simon live in a fantasy world, does he live inside your mind.?

Tell me now, are you Princess or are you now Simon, are you both the same,

Where do you both live, Is it a world inside the same brain.?

Where does princess live? where does Simon live? a mystery deep within,

Tell me as it seems they know each other, where do they both live.

Keith Garrett

MY NAME WAS TOM

A lifetime ago, many years in the past,
My name was Tom, I lived on a farm in the South.
A wife named Elizabeth, a fine woman,
Two daughters, Emily and Marie, indeed.
During the Civil War, I took my place alongside many men,
Did not think I would return home, seeing so many die.
Wounded everywhere, families destroyed,
The war ended, I returned to be with my family.
We decide to head West, buy a farm,
Settled down to a new world, many years ago.
Friends I had are no more, I once had a farm,
Nothing is forever as Emily and Marie had grown.
Daughters once loved by me married and had children of their own,
My wife got older as did I, back in a time.
One day sickness took hold of my life,
I did die once upon a time.
My wife Elizabeth was now much alone,
Working the farm I once owned.
Not so many years had passed, memories are in the past,
Elizabeth, my once fine wife, it was now her time to die, too again be mine.
Life’s clock keeps ticking, things change, disappear,
Emily and Marie, those daughters of mine,
They had wonderful lives, they had their days to see heaven in the sky.
My name was Tom, I had a life,
A fine wife and two loving daughters by the names of Emily and Marie,
My name was Tom, now we are all gone.

Keith Garrett

“BEYOND THE SKY”

From my beginning, I’ve sat and watched you,

Up so high, beyond what Is blue.

I’m always here but you can’t always see,

Perhaps clouds’ cover your view of beautiful me.

If my lights’ are turned on you might see my smile,

On a dark clear night, I’ll be up for a while.

As you awake In the morning I’ll be asleep,

Another time Is when we’ll meet.

Keith Garrett