A DRIFTING MAN

On a road of travel without any end,

Rests his weary body wherever he can.

Sleeps in the night hidden from sight,

Days’ of length, the next stop is any place.

From town to town he wanders with hope,

Worry fills his head about that next meal.

Find a job and stay in one place a short while,

Friends and smiles disappear with the miles.

A drifting man sees much of the land,

Meets many faces, lonely where he stands.

A price he pays to live in such a way,

There’s a gift in seeing the world,

What’s taken away is the peace of settling in one place.

He chooses a path, he’s a wandering man,

Today he’s here, gone again.

Keith Garrett

THANKSGIVING DREAM

It came to me one morning as I listened to the sirens and noise,

Fall is here, Thanksgiving is coming soon and this is not the place to be.

My Thanksgiving dream is to get away to that special, little town of peace,

Something out of a movie, going home where friends and family still live.

Driving across the country to where memories wait for me, you can see Fall,

When I arrive I can see many trees with leaves dropping to the ground.

Suppose to be cold tonight, snow will be here soon, the days are short,

Here with family, old friends gather for a Thanksgiving feast and thoughts.

The night is quiet, a warm fire, watching the sun go down with autumn alive,

Tomorrow is the day, asleep tonight in my old room, I can hear the wind howl.

Morning light awakens me with the smell of foods cooking downstairs,

Mom and Grandma in the kitchen, turkey in the oven and pies on the counter.

A cup of coffee, warm is the fire, outside on the porch as cold is the morning,

This is Fall, back home for the holidays where the seasons change.

Kids playing in piles of leaves, grateful for this day that’s about to be,

Today at the table together we sit, share, thankful for this Thanksgiving dream.

Keith Garrett

OLD FRIENDS

Come to your mind at different times,

They rest in memories, thought of in a moment.

Some are here, closer than you know,

Scattered like the wind, they are everywhere.

Those we may find, lucky to have them around,

We find that they have changed in so many ways.

Hold onto yesterday and the faces of our friends,

Once in a while a surprise from a voice never thought would be.

Old friends, ghosts in the traveling wind, do they live?

Are they around the corner, do they pass you by without notice?

Wherever you may be, just know that I think of you,

As for you, I may never be a thought again as you move ahead,

Old friends can be the best, old friends may they be at rest.

Keith Garrett

OH! WHAT A WORLD

This is where we stand in a hostile land,

Politics and policies, rules and regulations.

Lights that say stop, tell us when we can go,

Punch a clock, we’ve become only a number,

This land is your land don’t you know.

Stand in line, give them your code,

Show a picture I.D. or to jail you might go.

Drive as you should, walk when you can,

Keep your thoughts to yourself in this American land.

Most whom do crime pay as they should,

Some with money walk away from their no good.

All around the world money’s the game,

Oh! what a world, we all have something to say.

Keith Garrett

OH! ROBIN, WHY?

I’ll never understand why a wonderful human being has gone away,

What were you thinking on this day, that life was so bad, what would you say.?

You made the world laugh since the days of Mork and Mindy in the past,

A gift was bestowed upon your soul the moment when you dear Robin was born.

Grow would you to accomplish a most wonderful thing, you made the world laugh,

Your voice, your own laughter echoed around the world and you sir! were a gift.

Oh! Robin, why? sadness rested in your heart and now it rests in ours,

So much laughter as behind it you wore the mask of a clown, painted face whom cries.

Today a tear sheds on many faces as around the world an echo of Robin’s goodbye,

You made me laugh, you were one of those who made me want to dream.

You now set sail on another adventure, you are cast as a star, you’re on your way,

I know in heaven you will laugh once more, I’m sure you will make Jesus smile.

I say to you, goodbye Robin Williams, the world laughs a little less without you,

We will smile and once again laugh in time, rest your weary mind by God’s side.

Keith Garrett

OH MY GOD!

At times is it that I don’t quite understand,

Do I hear the words spoken but perhaps do not listen?

Maybe I don’t sometimes see although I possess sight,

Do you think inside of me the anger lives much too long?

Am I missing a piece of happiness that is so close, I can not see,

My mind is always spinning, I seem to have not much peace.

I watch the world from where I am and don’t like what I see,

I cannot change all that is bad but I can change some things in me.

Oh my god!, I do believe you know the answers to what I have thought,

I do believe from long ago that you knew where our world was heading.

You gave free will, we have a choice but mankind has taken for granted,

The beauty and gift of this life, is it too late for all to change what’s damaged.

Keith Garrett

A NEW WORLD

Chances taken, sacrifices made as they set sail for hope and a new life,

Far across the sea battling hunger and disease, they traveled a dream.

Not always was this a happy ending as many ships of the time were lost,

Hundreds of years ago families and friends, those seeking a better life took a chance.

Massive ships set course for unknown places, praying to conquer the oceans hostility,

The world was a mysterious and unknown piece of work still not understood.

It would take much courage and a voyage more complicated and rougher than imagined,

Plymouth Rock would one day be seen, a new world, this would be a land of new things.

There would be much sickness, hardship, and survival would be most difficult,

They would settle and slowly get to understand the ways of the Indian people.

The first Thanksgiving is not clear and no way to really know how it really was,

A new world it was for those who were from another land and wanted change.

Here’s to a new world and to all the Thanksgivings before and today.

Keith Garrett