LOVE TRAVELS A DISTANCE

A boy and his dog, love between two,

Each day he waits at the stroke of four.

Soon they will be separated by circumstance,

Strength and courage will be tested, a faithful friend.

A boy cries in the night, a tear from a dogs eye,

Love travels a distance to see the smile on a face that cries.

Hundreds of miles traveled, across land and time,

Across a river swam, to the other side, love in a dog’s eyes.

He’ll meet many on the way, conquer with every stride,

Back home a boy waits, a prayer and wish in the night.

Struggle and pain, hunger or cold will not stop mans best friend,

Something so strong lives within this four legged friend.

At the stroke of four, he lies in wait,

Love travels a distance, together again.

Keith Garrett

As he sat down in his rocking chair he began to speak,

With a smile, he invited me to sit and went about his story.

His life as a child at the beginning of a war for Independence,

On a farm in South Carolina, he lived with a father, brothers, sisters.

He went on to tell of adventures in the Summer just before it happened,

A big house, great times with family, working the farm each day was tiring.

He must have been about ninety years old now, the war and those days long gone,

A childhood recalled, swimming in the pond with a friend or two, the night’s moon.

He told me of this war being all around them, nothing would be the same, much change,

Tears in his eyes as he described that time and place where brothers and family died.

He sits in his chair today, many years away from there, he lives in that house today,

He sits in his chair on that porch where as a child he played, he told me of his life.

Keith Garrett

THE WRONG BOOTH

Innocently he walks in, a quiet night,

His thoughts are of the moment, he sits.

A cup of coffee as his eyes wander this place,

He is not comfortable as he watches those around.

There is little sound as he rests his weary mind,

Eyes are upon him but he will not understand why.

Approached by one he does not know, he reacts quickly,

Injured as he runs away, the wrong booth he found today.

Keith Garrett

ELLEN DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

I think of how she liked to run through the field of flowers,

A smile so bright, as if not a care in her world, memories.

We swam in the lake, laughing under the hot Summer sun,

Walking to school on cool, Fall mornings, playing along the way.

She went away, such a sad day as my friend went far away,

I still see her running through that field with her smile so bright.

If I listen on quiet nights I hear her splashing in the water, her laugh,

I walk to school in the morning wondering if she is by my side or near,

I get tears because Ellen doesn’t live here anymore.

Keith Garrett

THE VIGILANTE

A peaceful man, calm was he with a smile so bright,

Until they took his wife then his daughter’s life.

His world was turned inside out, nothing will be the same,

His name is known within the business world, the nights are his.

A man who did have a family, now he takes the lives of them who take,

His life is much different now, days of a regular citizen, nights of vengeance.

He now lives within himself, with the pain he inflicts upon the evil that brings pain,

He is the vigilante, a good man who had enough of bad people in a crazy world.

Keith Garrett

“SENSES”

Within us, there are things that make us feel and communicate,

They are sensitive but powerful to the human function.

Necessary are these but not threatening to the survival of one’s being,

They give us the ability to seek out and experience the wonders of the world.

The sense of smell gives us the ability to distinguish between fragrances,

To like or dislike what is in the air.

To see is to have the chance of being able to personally witness in color,

Or black and white pictures of the world remembered by your own mind.

Amazing is to hear fore it is the sense of many musical sounds,

To the ears the knowledge of whom or what is near you.

Now the sense of taste is a great and remarkable experience for all,

Eating foods and enjoying drinks, the word flavor means what to your mouth.

Touch or feel can be an incredible and exciting pleasure to enjoy,

It is the sense that man and woman may share together.

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 awhile 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

AT THE TOP OF THE HILL

From where I stand it seems so high,

My struggles to climb up near the sky.

To get up there at the top of the hill,

Will take my energy, also my will.

Scrapes and bruises are a part of my quest,

Where I’d like to get for my life to be the best.

Slip I might or stumble along the way,

Giving up is not part of my game.

When I get there at the top of the hill,

Accomplished my fight for the thing I did want.

Keith Garrett

FINDING FREEDOM

The search for freedom and a fight to keep it,

After thousands of years more is taken away today.

It’s all up for sale, we can barely walk in the hills anymore,

Dirt, water, and even air are not ours without a dollar.

We are not as free as we believe, we are allowed to do as they say,

All wars are not about freedom, most are of corruption and money.

Finding freedom when so much has changed is becoming rare,

We are losing it from every direction, before our eyes, and behind our backs.

The enemy appears to be us, look to our neighbor more than across the sea,

Look around people, we are losing our rights, finding freedom between what is seen.

Keith Garrett