HE WOULD BUILD AN ALTAR

Nobody believed he would survive as he lay there dying inside,

This young boy of twelve shot by an evil man with no heart.

A father with a faith so strong would never give up on a son,

His family, friends, and a town were concerned about his behavior.

He took his son to a wide open field of green grass where he might heal,

Set up camp and began to pray while his son lay motionless, staring.

He would build an altar of stone with a cross placed upon the top,

Seen for miles by travelers, talk of this altar and father would also spread.

Night was falling, the sun setting, supper was ready, and a visitor would show,

An old man with a cane would ask, let me try as the boy would not take broth.

The old man asked, if he is not saved will you lose your faith,? No said the father,

The old man went behind the altar, the father followed and the old man was gone.

Nothing but distance all around, where could he have gone, the father believed,

The father now wore a beard as the next night a storm was forming, this be the night.

The old man appeared in the dark and told the father, go to the altar! now!,

Lightning struck the altar and the father fell to the ground, the night was done.

When morning came and the sun rose in the sky his family was there wondering,

The father stepped from behind the altar, a true miracle as did his son with life.

Keith Garrett

7 MINUTES

We all have 7 minutes before something we must do,

The same time before work is done and time to go home.

7 minutes waiting or 7 minutes up, what be the circumstances,

7 minutes in the shower, 7 minutes on the phone,

7 minutes before dinner, another 7 minutes all alone.

Time is of the essence, time never stands very still,

7 minutes late just may save your life, right on time, goodbye.

In only 7 minutes, from good to bad, your world has changed,

Snooze for an extra 7 minutes, it may do you a world of good,

7 minutes a long time to suffer, 7 minutes to love and dream.

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

1969

I was a child in 1969, I had not a clue of the world,

I knew of certain things, those of which I lived through.

Riding my bike and a deadly Halloween night, that’s right,

I remember all that I did as a kid, a lifetime ago and a family,

Vietnam was a reality and I was protected by my childish world.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, Clint Eastwood was the man,

Raindrops keep falling on my head, Simon and Garfunkel were grand.

Scooby Doo and all of the colorful cartoons that I knew, I think of you,

Baseball with the miracle Mets, Bill Russell, and the champion Celtics,

Joe Namath with his Guarantee, the Jets beat the Colts, Charles Manson, and history.

The Innocence of the Brady Bunch, walk on the moon, Led Zeppelin and a tune,

1969 was the year when love and innocence were mixed with my day.

Keith Garrett

100 YEARS FROM TODAY

Yesterday, what we see as hundreds of years ago is gone,

History it is to us, read about in books of long lost times.

The days are always moving along, we do take for granted the morning,

The setting sun is a most spectacular sight, heading into the night.

Here where we stand may still be standing, another will be standing,

100 years from today the world that we know will have much changed.

Just as we wonder what life was like back in a time of cowboys and pioneers,

Tomorrow’s people will also wonder and read about our time and place.

100 years from today we will be a part of history, others will be amazed,

Just as we are amazed and dream of those times when the world appeared to be a dream.

Keith Garrett

DEADLY WAS THE NIGHT

Run fast! run! and try to hide from an evil night,

Fear is an ugly sight, heroes run for their lives, they die.

Bullets rain from the sky, from a window up so high,

Screams are many, what rings out drops them to the ground.

Those who were spared this night died forever a little inside,

By morning’s light so quiet as the dead lay still, no more alive.

On a peaceful night, blood spilled plenty, no reasons or why,

Listen as music and song turn to neverending cries, death visits this night.

Faces from many places, fifty eight would meet their fate, In the wrong place,

Run for your life! a concert, a festival, how can such a thing happen, not right.

Make sense of It, If you were so lucky to survive, scars that will forever bring tears to your eyes,

Deadly was the night, by morning light spirits would fly high beyond the sky.

Keith Garrett

PHOTO ALBUM,

Open it up, only empty pages are before you,

One by one, we add a picture, a scene from time,

Frozen within pages of a book, hidden with each turn.

It can not hold all that we see, not enough room for our history,

A photo album to pass along, share memories of life and family.

Not a movie, piece by piece, a glimpse of an adventure of life,

Turn the pages and find that with the passing time a book filled.

We become frozen in time, memories that we leave behind,

Expressions shared in pictures, we close the book on a simple time.

Keith Garrett

ON A HORSE, SHE RIDES

On a horse she rides, this dark haired girl,

Against the wind with a smile so bright.

No worries have she, this angel of the night,

Two separate souls, sharing this time.

Happiness shows on her face as this creature walks on,

Just a friend and a friend, riding along.

All dressed in black, on a horse she rides,

With all of her team at her side.

She Gallops and trots across the land,

Just a girl and a horse, they go hand and hand.

Keith Garrett

MYTHICAL TALES

Castles of knights so long ago, a far off land, a sword in a stone,

Dragons that fly across the sky, fire they breathe, burns the night.

Wizards dressed in robes of black, stars and moons on their backs,

Spells from a book, potions brewed up special in a pot of fire so black.

Sorcerer’s that cast upon the land an evil presence of giants so bad,

Legends of stories told from times of so old, kings and queens, guillotines.

Mythical tales and magical scenes only dreamed from minds of fairytale stories,

Possibly, Imaginations so real that just maybe once upon a time in another world.

Mythical tales from generation to generation, a place of old England,

Were there things once so real turned to tales and not believed again.

Keith Garrett

MYSTICAL TUNES’ OF LONG AGO

Like mystical Knights’ from a time long since past,

These three surviving warriors’ are back at last.

A golden god wailing tunes’ that echo through our minds’,

With emotion to his audience, a performer so fine.

From a magical guitarist born back In time,

Plays’ a bow on the strings’ like a wizard casts’ a spell.

On his organ, he plays’ sounds’ like they were made up In heaven,

Also, a guitar would be another weapon.

Together a power, none dreamed of before,

A masterpiece of song never seen on a stage floor.

Missing from them, one fallen warrior,

Whose hammering on his drums’ shook the ground like thunder,

They called him Bonzo, now a spirit In a new world of wonder.

From England, they were born some time ago,

Their music lives on forever you know.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones,

Led Zeppelin, Keith Garrett