FEBRUARY IS FINE

Winter still lives and I’ve got you on my mind,

January is almost gone, we’ll leave it behind.

Weather is still of cold, Spring is not yet here,

I dream of you, I dream of you any time of year.

The month may be cold, rainy, or sunny and bright,

That’s alright, February is fine, you’re on my mind.

Snow may be on the mountains, Christmas is yesterday,

The warm days will soon be here, one or two we may share.

February is fine, I have to say, February is fine.

Keith Garrett

FEBRUARY 9

I’ve always thought at the time of being a child that the date

Of this, February 9 was only mine, a day of fun and celebration.

This date and time has always been special to me as I am alive,

Each year as I do awake on this day nine, it is that life is mine.

Fifty eight I will surely be, I remember five, thirteen, and sixteen,

Eighteen, twenty one, thirty seemed scary as a little older I would be.

As a child, a teen, and adult, February nine would be a day for me,

Given by god was the ninth day of this month to join the human race.

Never knowing how many of these I will be blessed with is a thought,

February 9 nineteen sixty two, a baby and what seems like a long dream.

Keith Garrett

THEY WERE DIFFERENT

He walked down the street full of laughter and fun,

He was poor with no money but no worries had he.

She was from a different world, of money and material things,

A young woman with everything but she had nothing.

He was free with dreams that were possibly only dreams,

What he wanted was only to be, what he wanted was she.

She was art, dance, and culture passed on by a family,

What she wanted was to be set free, treasure was not just money.

He appeared as a man whose clothing meant he had no worth,

But what is the worth of a well dressed man with no integrity?

They were different she and he, drawn together by feelings,

The heart, the eyes, the touch of man to woman and woman to man.

They were different but they were the same, walking hand in hand,

With what’s love and pain.

Keith Garrett

THEY TRIED TO TAKE OUR FARM

To sweat and actually bleed, long hot days giving our all,

When the rooster crows we are already starting the morning.

What it takes to keep a farm, everyone pulling together as one,

You’ll find out quickly that no one will care, so you better care more.

The government decided they wanted our land, they asked politely,?

We said no! we don’t want to sell, that wasn’t really a question you see.

They got mean, we decide to get meaner, no one is taking our farm,

Here we’ll stand with guns in hand, die if we must, this is our land.

Together as one, women and men we were ready to fight for a farm, our home,

They tried to take our farm, we prayed for peace, we want this not to be,

In the end, we did not fall, we said it all, they went away, this is our home.

Keith Garrett

“PENNY”

I found a penny on the floor,

Shiny and bright like never before,

Back on a sunny day in nineteen seventy four.

I threw it far on a windy, Spring day,

Where did it go, this penny I cast away.?

There were many more like it, dated that year,

Where has it gone, that penny tossed without care.

I pulled a penny from my pocket today, a penny from change,

I dropped it on the floor, when I picked it up so aged and old.

The date on it said nineteen seventy four just as so long ago,

What if after forty years of travel my penny found its way to me,

Imagine these things that might be, what if all is a possibility.

Keith Garrett

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