They walk amongst us, they are our neighbors,

We do not recognize them fore they look the same.

Work each day they do at regular jobs,

We are given a smile from an unknown evil one.

They seem okay until they show a different face,

A trail of tears is what they leave behind,

The serial killer.

Keith Garrett

As a child I was a dreamer, my imagination running wild,

Life was somewhat of a fairy tale, I awoke at a young age.

As my father died then much anger grew inside,

A slow process as I was shy, not really did I seem to cry.

Now a lost boy inside, kept it to myself as I played each day,

My teen years were without a father or parent who appeared invisible.

This is my view and what I believe, others may disagree but I am me,

I was never one who wanted to hurt people or animals, out of control.

I was never a bad person but did things that I would regret in many ways,

Decisions and choices would haunt to this day, some would give a change.

There are those that can not be fixed, I can mend others day by day,

A confession today, from a man who was never perfect in any way.

Keith Garrett

Disappear, go away and leave me alone,

I don’t need you anymore, you bring nothing.

My energy is being drained, a piece taken away,

You’re out there but I need you not here.

Be not here whomever you are, stay away,

I’ve seen you in too many places around this world.

You’ve done much harm to me fore you are them,

You don’t have a place in my life, a disease you be.

Not to be trusted, worn by you are many faces,

Many faces you are, which might be the right one,

Be not here and I won’t have to wonder who you are.

Keith Garrett

Let me tighten your brains, he would say,

I’ll give you a wallop, this way he would play.

Memories of a man, a dear and wise soul,

Italian all the way, left and went away some time ago.

A player of the cards, a trick or too win the game,

He worked in the shipyard, hard at it everyday.

Born in nineteen eighteen, Louis John Cordischi,

Remember with me, grandpa Louie,

He has a home in heaven, shared with loved ones today.

As I write these words of a man far away,

I see his face and his smile, his voice heard by me.

Keith Garrett

They spend their time together each day on the couch,

Watching television, telling stories about the old days.

At times they may fight, these room mates of four,

When they can’t sleep in the night, they share,

Older, maybe wiser and loneliness they do not bare.

Their lives are not done as they live from sun to sun,

Walks together in the morning, smile and have fun.

Their days are spent together, their thoughts are shared,

Their golden years are not wasted, friends until the end.

Keith Garrett

I only ask that you listen when I speak,

In return I will give you both ears kindly.

Be there when I am in pain and need a shoulder,

I’ll be there to catch you if in time you do fall.

Please do not stab me in the back, no talking about me,

For you I will speak directly to you, also if i’m angry.

Understand that there is in me no perfect piece you’ll see,

I know you are a person with human flaws, that’s quite okay,

Be a friend to me and a friendship we will share, I do care.

Keith Garrett

When I awoke to a morning not yesterday,

Young was I as my first footsteps were learned.

Walked did I into each different day,

The more I traveled, the more I changed.

I learned of words, I saw many things,

The sun I saw rise but now it’s overhead.

The leaves I saw were shaken from the trees,

As the world turned, again the leaves were to be.

Once a young boy played in the snow,

The more he walked, the less the snow would fall.

Sometimes he would see but things could not be seen,

A road traveled so fast, a blind man was he.

He walked very far, a life on his feet,

He’s on his way back, almost home, older than he use to be.

Keith Garrett

A box discovered while searching the basement one day,

There was a lock on it, this dusty, old box made of wood.

Painted on it was a star and moon, overlapping were they,

What that meant if anything is a mystery I would not discover.

What’s in the box something surely was as it felt of heaviness,

A lock so unusual, this I have never seen before, a box of anything.

I touched the cover and could feel something inside, I could not open,

What’s in the box is not one thing, it holds many things, everything.

Keith Garrett

THOUGHTS OF FRIENDS

My mind goes back to a place in time, not so far away,

A place of hills that once were, friends so dear.

Neighborhoods where those i knew settled behind windows,

They were once there, now they wander far and wide.

These memories are again in my head as the morning began,

Started with a message and a chat with an old friend Richard Paris.

A few memories shared about those good old days, some not of magic,

Remembering school, sisters slumber parties, parties with friends.

Thoughts of friends from a town so close to me but yet so far away,

Always a thought, something great and wonderful about Yorba back then.

My time with friends, an Ice cream, skating, messing around in the hills,

Football and baseball, basketball after school or on a Saturday afternoon,

My thoughts of friends, written down, i remember you now and then.

There was a man in a far off land,

He had no eyes, he had no hands, this man.

Told me of visions, of a world he sees,

With his feet he would pick up things.

He spoke of many stories and travels,

Lessons of worth from a man in a far off land.

There were no tears or anger of his losses,

A smile for gifts bestowed upon him.

He was not weak, body or mind,

He was a man from a far off land, a kind man.

He had no want of things so many,

What he valued was simple, not riches of plenty.

Keith Garrett