JUDGMENT HAS A FACE


 From behind a door, walking down a street, 
 Who are they,

 They wander around, they look without a friendly sound.


 With paper and pen, not a friend as they may smile 
 But pretend,

 Watched you are as you walk, speak, examined over a 
 way you dress.

 Judge me with your thoughts but what is there to see 
 In you,
 I am judged by those whom I never again see, strangers, 
 Some family.

 Judgment has a face, not the same as it changes from day 
 To place,

 We are judged with the rotation of our world, travels 
 With the wind.

                                            Keith Garrett

            I AM NOT A RICH MAN

                                                                                           
               BUT RICH I AM


 I do not own a home or a treasure chest of gold,


 Stocks and bonds are few, diamonds are a little too.


 I am not a rich man as calculated by statistics and 
 Daily man,

 A special car or a vacation home does not show of my 
 Value,

 I am not a rich man, estimated by paper money or material 
 Things.

 But rich I am, If life is valued in a simple way, just a 
 Regular day,

 These things are free but of gold bars to me, listen to 
 What makes a rich man.

 If love is in your day then rich you are in a most 
 Special way,

 I can walk and see with my every day, I breathe freely, 
 I'm okay.

 A roof over my head, clothes on my back, never to bed 
 Am I hungry,

 So much can cost money, beauty, staying healthy, a song 
 you sing is free.

 But rich I am, with that which is mine and my thoughts 
 Every day.

                   Keith Garrett

                IN THE COURSE OF A LIFETIME


 Born we are, each of us with a purpose unless 
 Altered,

 Nothing stops what we do depending on anything in 
 Our way.

 We see so much with these eyes of mystery given from 
 the master,

 What about those without sight, is there a gift that 
 Comes from here.

 Nothing taken for granted when you never saw what you 
 Are missing,

 You now see with your heart and mind, this is what 
 Challenges your time.

 We travel a thousand roads trying to choose the best  
 Way to go, we don't know,

 Decisions of intelligence, luck along the way, a prayer 
 Of hope and we may be okay.

 In the course of a lifetime, we pass each other by,  
 Shake hands, laugh, And say goodbye,

              Keith Garrett

            I'LL LEAVE THE LIGHT ON


 I remember the day when you went away,


 Your bags packed, you've grown so fast, on your way.


 A choice has been made, I'll stand by your side,


 What you believe in your heart is the way you must 
 Fight.

 Far away the war has not stopped,


 I'll leave the light on until you come home.


 I've written these letters for fifty years now,


 Missing in action is what was said to me about you.


 You're still my love, what has become of you?


 My life is less as you have not come back.


 I've held on to hope, a prayer every night,


 After fifty years the reality of not seeing you hides 
 From my mind.

 I'll leave the light on as I have since the day you 
 Drove away,

 I'll leave the light on until my last day.


                       Keith Garrett            

                       PAINTED CLOUDS

 I walk the morning, the air has a chill and a 
 Breeze,

 Out In the distance, above the hills, they float 
 Like balloons.

 Shapes or sizes and colors of difference,


 Splashed across the sky are painted clouds.


 Vanish, they go away for a moment In time,


 Reinvented, shaped from heaven above.


 Pastel colors appeared In my sight,


 Rays of light from the sun trying to peek through.


 An Invisible smile, a memory of a face sketched,


 Forever In my mind, eyes of beauty, a voice that 
 Echoes

 Through the clouds.
                                                                                                Keith Garrett

                     TRIALS' OF A MAN


 Once a child, a small boy from many seasons' past,


 In this time and place destined to be a man.


 Through many battles I've had to persevere,


 Like heading Into a strong never ending wind.


 I'm learning to move away from the confrontation,


 Choosing a new direction, energy not wasted.


 Struggling to do everything right as I walk forward,


 Positive lessons' to take ahead, I've learned from 
 My past.

 At one time I put away my faith, put It high on a 
 Shelf,

 Keep living, keep moving along, and try always.


 I've had losses and love lost but this won't end me,


 In this, things gained simultaneously.


 I still seek some of what's been lost, still within 
 Reach,

 Some gone forever, forever a memory.


                       Keith Garrett

                                                                                                
                 HANGMAN


 On a dirty street, in a western town back in time,  
 The gallows,

 He is the hangman, stands always still as the shadows 
 Drift with time.

 He is everywhere, face covered always in a mask of 
 Darkness,

 Not a ruler  but he holds the authority to life and 
 Death.

 A noose hovers, it sways with the wind, waiting for those 
 Who sin,
 You  didn't just break the law, the ultimate crime lived 
 In your mind.

 A life you did take, murder will get you a date with 
 The hangman,

 Many years ago when life was hard on the trail, guns an 
 Every day tool.

 When a man chooses the wrong road, decisions of criminal 
 Deeds will do him in,

 The hangman will watch as you climb the stairs, each  
 Step You will sweat.

 A choice you have made, time to pay, the hangman does 
 Have his day.
                                       Keith Garrett

                       "FOREVER"


 Above from the wide open sky the sun shines ever 
 So bright,
 Will It warm our world always or one day say a 
 Farewell?
 What If the wind that we can not see goes away,

 Will It again blow across the hills and make the trees 
 Sway?
 The glowing moon sits like a lighthouse In the sky,

 Watching, always watching but for how long will It rise?

 The rain falls from the sky, from the clouds that 
 Drift on by,
 Will the drops take from the Earth the thirst so as 
 Not to die?
 See the animals run through the woods and across the 
 Plains,
 Today they live somewhat free, tomorrow will they be?

 We live, we love, dance to the music, sing from our 
 Hearts,
 Search for the happiness that makes It all worth living.

 There are things that may be never, things never lost,

 Nothing lasts forever fore forever we are not.


                    Keith Garrett

                       BARBARA JEAN


 You were standing by your mamma, you were just 
 A little girl,

 Backwards' the wind takes my thoughts' Into what 
 You as a small

 Child could be, a little girl named Barbara Jean.


 In you lives, still this dreaming young spirit that 
 Flew forward,

 The wind and time has carried you, such a wonderful
 Mother,

 Here to where you still wander and dream, you! 
 Barbara Jean.

 You are just days' older, every day one day older 
 Than yesterday,

 Stand you still do as always your mamma watches 
 over you.

 Not there was I for each of your childish birthdays,
 Mo not yet,

 Fore all the ones' you would celebrate would bring us 
 Together sooner.

 I believe In my wishes and dreams' that you are younger 
 Than yesterday,

 With much love from a son who says' thank you to a girl 
 Named Barbara Jean.

                               Keith Garrett

                                                                                                        
                A SUMMER NIGHT



 When the sun goes down and the heat of day fades,



 A quiet visits the night, crickets are alive yet 
 Not in sight.


 Darkness has a certain feel to it, peaceful is my 
 Thought,


 While many living things drift off to sleep day begins
 Too.


 Stars so bright hanging in stillness beyond what is sky,



 The moon shows its light,  high above it watches always,



 A Summer night has its own beauty till mornings light.


                Keith Garrett