BILLY MITCHELL

 Today in my mind but yesterday was a 
 Long time ago,

 I think of you, a place and a school, I 
 Was a little boy.

 It was nineteen sixty seven, Kindergarten 
 And you,

 The first day of school is recalled in my mind, 
 A boy I saw cry.

 His name Was Cotero, I think of those clowns on a
 Wall,

 Are they still there? I wonder, swing sets and 
 Young friends.

 A boy named Grover, Duck, Duck, goose, Graham 
 Crackers and milk,

 Nap time, I remember the cabinets with cartoonish 
 Pictures.

 Reading time was the best, Fold out books, three 
 Dimensional stories,

 Hansel and Gretel, all the best, I was there until 
 Ninety seventy.

 Hard to remember the teachers names, Mrs. Scott 
 Back in second grade,

 I think it was Mr. Kelly, Principal with dark hair 
 And glasses.

 John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt was a song in the 
 Cafeteria,

 After school and on the weekends you could play games,


 Carroms, maze, and more, Billy Mitchell, when once 
 I was a child.

 Friends, Jeff, James, Jimmy, and Alan, wherever  
 They are, I remember,

 There was a bell back then known as the freeze bell, 
 Stand very still.

 We all have our childhood, our memories, a town to 
 call home, then we roam,

 Billy Mitchell, I find myself wandering back to you, 
 Memories of a school.
                                Keith Garrett

                                                                           
              BENEATH THE AUTUMN SKY


 From up so high life goes on down below, 
 This is so,

 It is seen from above, from the heaven where 
 We are to go.

 Beneath the Autumn sky everything lives and 
 Has its time,

 There's a cycle of life, all things rotating as 
 If it were a dance.

 Watch as the leaves disappear from the trees, 
 Falling together,

 They vanish, crumble and blow away with the wind 
 Always.

 Beneath the Autumn sky there are colors of orange,  
 Yellow, and red.

 Shades of beauty that are here for a Fall season, 
 They soon slip away,

 A cool breeze in the air, animals collecting food 
For a Winter cold.

 Beneath the Autumn sky there is life moving as all 
 Things must die.
                 Keith Garrett

                   DEEP FOREST


 Step Into reality, an exotic and spectacular 
 Place of dreams,

 Realize this world of adventure and things' 
 Not too often seen.

 Somewhat dark with a hint of light beaming 
 Through the trees,

 Sounds all around as the creatures of this land 
 Watch in the shadows.

 There's a misty haze that appears as the night 
 Shows its face,

 So far away from the not so peaceful, deep forest 
 of that which breathes.

 Leaves upon the ground, walking among life that 
 Speaks not a word we hear,

 With these feet we make our way from a magical 
 Getaway of existence.

 This forest, a beautiful deep forest hiding from 
 The outside,

 Lost In It may be the heaven, the happiness, 
 A garden of eden.

                     Keith Garrett  

                                                                            
          ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE


 I write to you from yesterday, a very long 
 Time ago for you,

 Long before you were born in a town of people 
 And family.

 My family and I were up before the break of dawn, 
 Working,

 Children of a simple time but at times not so 
 Simple you see.

 Horses were a common thing just as your car 
 Is in your time,

 Things of your day not dreamed up as of yet, life
 Was hard, also fun.

 Here in yesterday there is sickness that kills many 
 As there is no medicine,

 As I sit here on my farm watching my wife and kids  
 Play, I write this to you.

 When you receive my letter it will be that I and those 
 I love will be gone now,

 You will have all the things that we here have never  
 Seen, good and bad.

 There are beautiful things and land that will disappear 
 With them, I can see them,


 I live here in another time and place just as you do,  
 I hope this letter gets to you.

                  Keith Garrett

                                                                                       
              AN ALWAYS CHANGING SKY



 A light shade of gray evenly covering that 
 Which lives below,

 Clouds so heavy and thick with moisture ready 
 To rain down.

 In the early evening as the sun fades many 
 Shades of color,

 After dark on a clear, starry night you can 
 See forever high.

 Big, white fluffy clouds of many shapes sitting 
 Still above your head,

 With the wind you'll see their shapes change and 
 Drift slowly away.

 Thunder and lightning visit a dark, stormy day, 
 The sun is there,

 Hiding beyond the blanket of nature, the sun still 
 Shines without sight.

 An always changing sky, never the same throughout 
 Any given day,

 The sky is always there, it is the elements that move 
 Through and change it.
                   Keith Garrett

                                                                                      
             ALONE IN THE DARK


 Everyone Is gone, I look around, silence Is                
 The sound,

 Where did they go, I do not know, I am somehow 
 Alone.
 
 A campsite of darkness Is a fun and peaceful place,


 A warm fire, friends, and laughter will liven up 
 The night.

 What a difference It makes when you're alone In 
 The dark,
 
 The lonely quiet that accompanies a fear that 
 Something is there.

 There are two parts, different views on being alone 
 In the dark,

 Peace and time by yourself to breathe and think 
 Can be great.

 Wondering what's a danger or the silent dark that 
 Scares a man,

 Fear of the unknown, afraid of being alone, alone 
 In the dark.

                 Keith Garrett  


                                                    

                                                                                                             
           A NEW TODAY



                                                                                  Time to let go of certain things, days past,



                                                                                    People I thought were my friends, ends.



                                                                                 Life does change, unexpected adventures,



                                                                              A new day comes my way, a road of surprises.



                                                                             Relief is at this moment a friend indeed to me,



                                                                              Scary is change, where do I go from here I say,



 A new day today, what is gone is no more, I am 
 on my way.

                                                                                 Keith Garrett

                     VOICES


 Around us, we hear those who speak,
 Words and phrases to others' who will hear.


 So many different tones from mouths each day,
 Softly spoken or In a deep, mean way.


 Talking a lot Is a way for some,
 Fast and unclear Is another way too.


 We hear many voices as we spend our day,
 Talking about their lives and crying about 
 Their pain.

 Voices are heard singing songs,
 Which makes us happy and brings our emotions 
 Outside.

 On the phone, there are voices, to us spoken words,
 We can't even see them but still they are heard.


 Without voices, we will not be heard,
 If we are not heard, then there Is silence.


         Keith Garrett  

                                                                                      
            FACES IN THE WATER


 By myself as I am sitting beneath the warm, 
 Rising sun,

 There exists a slight, cool, morning breeze 
 Around me.

 Watch I do as the tall, dancing, trees stand 
 High above,

 Rays from the sun, shine through the branches 
 Of leaves.

 What surrounds me this day is taken for granted 
 Beauty,

 The quiet is an always wanted gift that will never 
 Go away.

 The calm pond water rests around me while I think 
 And dream,

 When I look down to find my reflection, I see not me 
 But that of other days.

 My thoughts take me to yesterday, far, far, away, 
 As if it were today,

 The water is quite still now, like clear, shiny, 
 Glass, I drift off like a dream.


 Faces in the water, clearly I can see with memories, 
 Faces in the water,

 Days of old, friends scattered with time are seen 
 Floating in the sun.
                            Keith Garrett

                  FIRE STORM


 Like a tornado it appears suddenly, out of 
 Nowhere it attacks,

 Burning heat that rages on a path of destruction   
 Without remorse.

 Visible fire, a monster that with its touch can make 
 Life disappear,

 With the help of natural wind this creation man made 
 Or not, builds strength.

 It consumes without fear, tireless, always hungry as 
 It makes its way anywhere,

 Smoke fills the sky, dark, thick, smoke travels upward 
 Into the atmosphere.

 The birds fly, watch as the animals run with great fear
 Through the hills of flame,


 Survival is the only game being played today, the losers 
 Will forever go away.

 Fire storm, Destroys does it a piece of our beautiful 
 World with every attack,

 Sometimes forever gone, healing of the land takes  
 So long, scars are never gone.
                     Keith Garrett.