IN THE MIRROR

The morning came, as I got out of bed to the cold surroundings,

Headed to the bathroom as is usual, to an opened medicine cabinet.

I closed it not really wondering why it was opened and brushed

My teeth,

Quiet was the morning as I thought I heard my own voice speaking.

Imagination working, I thought to myself, again but it was calling me,

An eerie, long, whisper, perhaps a bit tired as I rationalized the moment.

Walking away I stopped and turned swearing I saw something in the mirror,

My skin crawled so I moved fast towards the door to get outside.

There was no one to tell because it would be I the crazy one indeed,

Whatever it was did exist, at least in the mind of a man now afraid.

I had to go back in there to see, to find out if it was real, was I crazy,

It wasn’t expected but when I looked in the mirror he as I now call him.

It was there staring at me, eyeing me, a tiny sort of a being.

My heart seemed to stop as he pointed to his face, I was in shock,

I now understood that he was me, in the mirror I now could see.

Keith Garrett

                                              ONE A.M.

When they come they come in force, from somewhere,

From everywhere they surround and take whatever is found.

These things that they are never do you want to meet,

Their hearts are of black, you are nothing more to them 

Then can be used.

There is no mercy shown when they lay their claws upon you,

Lock your doors, you already know that every year at one A.M.

On Halloween, it is them who come from some place of mystery.

Horrible to you but to them a feast on this night after the

Midnight hour,

Hide as you do where they can not see as they will not search for you.

For the foolish, the ones who don’t believe or don’t think it will

Happen again,

At one A.M.  if you are within sight then on this night you will

Have no more life.

Keith Garrett 

                                                CLOWNS IN THE DARK

They were always supposed to be funny, at the circus

Doing tricks,

Making children laugh, adults who were so young, believing.

They wear many different expressions to hide what’s really

Inside,

Appear do they friendly in the daylight but in the coming days

Of October, faces of clowns in the dark only faces in the night.

On a cool, crisp, October, days before Halloween, I went walking,

A breeze in the air as it is now Fall and the days are much shorter.

Passing by the park as I heard a scream from somewhere I could

Not see,

Laughter echoed through the swaying trees, from a distance

A face known to me.

Not like before as a child sees a clown, a quick, evil stare

As he ran away,

Left behind was something that can’t be erased from my mind.

Night after night they became more and more, just one face

the same,

Clowns in the dark who wear not the faces of fun but of 

Their pain,

Revenge, clowns from all time, wreak havoc in the night,

No reasons why.

Keith Garrett

Make no mistake, it is I who is the dangerous,

 You’ve pushed much too hard, the anger is serious.

Understand that it is I with the ace in my hand,

The power you possess is very little my friend.

Never push buttons unless you know what they’re for,

 You are not the hunter but the hunted.

Nothing is as it seems fore you are the weak,

You can only talk, not a man with two feet.

The face you wear is a pathetic sight,

Better a mask you wear to hide the haunting you fear.

You’re known to me, I see what you are,

I’ll show you fear, look in the mirror,

I’ll show you fear if you go too far or get too near.

Keith Garrett

A lying man’s tongue just freshly hung,

The eyes of a murderer taken for fun.

Hands from a thief cut from his arms,

A foot of the dead one found in the woods.

Head of a bat, hair from the wolf,

An evil soul dug up from its hole.

A thought from the wicked one whom

Has not a conscience,

Into the pot, the greed of anyone.

A piece of the cheating heart, those who hold,

One spoken word, a lie in the world.

All that is bad stirred into the pot,

A spell on the 31st will be cast after dark.

Keith Garrett

                               THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE WIND

 It’s October, I wait and wonder not if but when it will come,

Over a century ago something evil and disturbing happened,

A storm appeared and with it an unusual, foul smelling, wind.

In the end it took with it neighbors, family, and strangers,

It has been one hundred years since that nightmarish night.

I know something bad is coming, it’s October now, no one believes,

The air is changing, you can’t stop what will happen, stay away

From the wind.

There is something in the wind, tomorrow morning there will be

Not a soul left.

Keith Garrett

                                           THE PINK LADY

It’s been many years since I was there, a cemetery,

Out there in the dark of night, Yorba Linda the place.

Who was she, does anyone know of her name, a lady,

Mystery or made-up stories that grew with the years.

This legend, the pink lady lives in the night, a vision,

Does she haunt this place for reasons only few know?

I remember going out there with my brother and friends,

Wondering, thoughts that she was real, at one time.

Now a spirit wandering the darkness of an older Yorba Linda,

Called “the pink lady” Who once may have known her?

What kind of life did she have, who gave her the name,

Will she be there on Halloween, could she be there tonight?

Keith Garrett

                             WHAT’S INSIDE THE CLOSET

What was that! a noise from the background during the day,

I passed it off as nothing and went about my work in the yard.

The window was open to the bedroom, some kind of rustling,

It was probably nothing but I had to go inside and find out.

When I opened the door there was nothing to see nothing to be,

I wondered as I closed the door, were there eyes looking at me?

My mind was getting the better of me, nothing could be,

Later that day when I went inside to change I found the door open.

Could there be, what’s inside the closet that’s beginning to scare me?

Again I closed that door, I went to eat, Sitting there I swear there was 

A whisper,

I closed my eyes for a bit, falling asleep within what I saw as a dream state,

Awoke did I in a hurry as my mind saw something horrifying, a nightmare?

I went off to bed, looking towards the closet fear ran through me, 

The door was open,

Am I losing my mind, is something there, tell me please! what’s 

Inside the closet!

Keith Garrett

He’s coming back, each year during the Fall, he awakens,

Travels here from someplace far away, a demon is he.

Wings opened wide from side to side, feet, and hands like claws,

A face of fear, eyes wide open, and bright red, teeth ready to eat.

He wears a disguise of black coat and a hat that covers his face,

Silent through the night, he lives in the cornfield, he waits.

Watches in silence, those bright red eyes moving from side to side,

Tonight there are two who wander through the cornfield for home.

They see a scarecrow, curious as they approach this strange sight,

Horror on their faces, through their hearts and minds, fear races.

His hat is raised and his face shown to them, hands and feet exposed,

Try to run do these two, he swoops upon them flying high into the night,

Wings spread wide, with his prey disappears, back by morning’s light.

Keith Garrett

It was on a night just like this back when I was a child,

In bed I lay, on a cold, Fall night, Halloween I recall.

A sound came to my ears, trick or treating was a done thing,

I was half-asleep as I approached my bedroom window.

When I saw him my body felt like it hit the floor, what a face,

Fear like no other came quickly as I thought this a nightmare.

His face was dark, eyes blank, and a hint of a smirk that brought chills,

With his face pressed against the window, then walked away, 

Until this day.

I never told anyone about him, I’m not sure why, maybe the fear

That I carry,

When I saw him I never forgot him, why so many years later

I am scared.

I know he is back, I feel him near, I need to know for sure 

As slowly I move,

Face to face once again, why is it me, with a smirk on his face,

Takes my sanity away.

Keith Garrett