LEFT IN A CHAIR

A husband now gone, a lifetime spent together,

She has a life, not young anymore but a human being.

Everything has changed for this nice lady of an older age,

Taken from her home where comfort was her daily friend.

Cast aside in such ways, disregarded as a person due to aging,

Sad as the family she raised now takes away her Independence.

From once a baby now treated once again as a child, I watch this,

They wait for her to go, out of greed they seem not to care,

She sits by a back door, it seems her life is left in a chair.

Keith Garrett

LEAVING IT ALL BEHIND

I stop where I’m standing looking around,

What is this madness born to us all.?

Leaving my work, my home, and the things known to me,

Go away to a place up high, way back in the hills.

There are no people of judgement to listen to,

The loud sounds of tragedy lost in my travel.

There is no anger or the struggle to survive,

Out here only nature to hear me cry.

Leaving it all behind,

The life that was once mine.

Keith Garrett

LEAVE ME ALONE

Do not knock, the door does not open,

My phone will not be heard so do not call.

Mail me nothing, the mailbox is no longer there,

If you wish to see me, why should I care.

There’s nothing to say, I need nothing from you,

Don’t bother trying, leave me alone.

I am not mean, it’s peace I desire,

After a day in the world, I just want to hide.

Leave me alone, just go away, don’t knock at my door,

Don’t make my phone ring, leave me a little peace for the end of my day.

Keith Garrett

LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS

Open your hand, that it is not a fist but an outstretched one,

Feel the friendship not the pain that might be laid upon.

Change the words and phrases of your mouth so that they are

Of loving thoughts and wisdom,

Make them kind, not of hatred and hurt.

Threats meaning is of Intimidation, the possibility that something

Bad and evil might come, emotional torment.

Lay down your weapons, take the sword, the knife or gun

And drop them to the ground,

They are of no use to those of wanting love and happiness around.

This I say in the name of hope and prayer,

Lay down your weapons as the lord and son are very near.

Keith Garrett

LAUGH DO I,

SOMETIMES I CRY

It’s a face that I show sometimes to not let known,

That my hurt inside is so very real, laugh do I.

Humor is a tool that I use for safety and to forget,

That things taken for granted can blow away with the wind.

I tell you for certain, yes! it is that sometimes I cry,

Alone, inside, or out loud by the moonlight.

Laugh do I when I witness the everyday rituals of wasted lives,

Silly and ridiculous as their time slips away.

Oh! to be sure sometimes I cry if punished am I for too much care,

The love given to those whom can’t recognize or understand.

If laugh do I, is it because happiness is within me or a funny thought,

Or hide what is perceived as pain and maybe a heartfelt loss.?

When sometimes I cry is it due to a wonderful emotional experience,

Or the sadness that can be seen as I walk through my life.

Laugh do I, sometimes I cry.

Keith Garrett

LAST TIME I SAW HIM

It was early morning I do recall, many sunrises and sunsets ago,

To bed, early that night before tomorrow would surely make a change.

Morning was morning as he opened the door to a new day, heading for work,

Like a dream those days past don’t seem real anymore, faded and foggy.

Last time I saw him I was a boy and he was going off to earn a living for the day,

Never again would he be seen by me or I by him as day by day time would change.

Seasons would go by, turning Into years as one day I would become as he was, a man,

I have existed in this world without him for most of my life, I have outgrown him in age.

I remember his time here with me, It was very short but he had his own life before mine,

His time as a child was also somehow the same as mine in that he played the same way.

He grew and became who he was, a navy man and a machinist who traveled during Korea,

On a ship to many countries, he stopped, a journal and much poetry left behind as he touched the sky.

More than thirty four years after his son grew up without him, a very special package sent for Christmas,

Pictures of a father whose face was fading, a journal of his Korean war battle, and poetry, different than me.

Last time I saw him, a little boy standing with his father watching as he left, a final goodbye, touch the sky.

Keith Garrett

LAST ONE ON THE EARTH

Always imagined did I a thought that I might be the last,

I would one morning awake to walk outside and not another.

My days would be as I describe, last one on the earth,

I wake up on this morning, I hear the birds outside my window.

Go about my daily rituals but something is different, find out soon,

Outside it’s unusually quiet, not the sound of a bus at the corner.

Children no more are on their way to school, cars are not heard,

A panic comes over me as I walk the street, over to the park.

Not a soul in sight, a little fright, did something happen during the night,

Stores empty, not a sound from the world, birds in the trees, all I see.

Last one on earth, this I must be, everything has stopped except for me,

Last one on earth, would I be free or a lonely prisoner in my own reality.?

Keith Garrett

LAST NIGHT

Darkness would fall as the sun disappeared,

I am here thinking about the night before.

It was last night when the moon was full in the sky,

Almost an orange color with stars shining around.

The mountains were alive but without sight in the night,

The wind was slightly blowing, a slight chill in the air,

Last night was alright, my thoughts were everywhere.

Keith Garrett

LAST NIGHT I DREAMED

Last night I dreamed I lost a child,

The horror, sadness, all emotions seemed so real.

As if someone had taken him away,

Searched did I everywhere, Oh! the pain.

In my dream another gone, one disappearing,

This was not real as I was dreaming.

In my dream, I saw paper napkins floating downstream,

Representing the loss, them going away.

In my dream I awoke, a dream within a dream,

As if I now understood the full meaning.

When I did awaken I felt relief,

They did not die, they were not taken.

It was truly understood, my children were now gone,

There was some loss as they would not return.

My children of whom I loved so much were reborn into the adult world,

I’ll forever miss the laughter and play of the young innocent ones.

Keith Garrett

LAND ACROSS THE SEA

Make your way across the water, across the sea,

Let the flowing ocean that surrounds us take you.

On a journey under the earth night sky to a land,

On the water, it rests, hills of grassy green, a place.

See this lady they call Ireland, land across the sea,

Beautiful sounds of music from there, take a journey.

Keith Garrett