IF I HAVE TO DIE

IT NEEDS TO MATTER

A day will come when this will be, could be a sunrise, a sunset no more,

I can not imagine being gone, leaving this world behind appears unreal.

A life is special, all life as it is to be celebrated, the mark you leave behind,

Regrets, that which never was or could not be accomplished is a thought.

Our purpose for being here as it is only a short time compared to the birth of time,

What is it that’s to be learned from our visit to a land with more mystery always.

Discoveries are made as we search and explore a world so large but appears to get smaller,

What we have learned has helped our survival just as it does damage just the same.

If I have to die it needs to matter, I pray that I will one day be heaven bound,

If I have to go away then before my journey I wish to help another live one more day.

Keith Garrett

IF I EVER GROW OLD

From where my world began throughout my travels to different lands,

The history of my life up until this point has been written and put in a box.

I’m still young, but what is young, a number attached to the years lived here,

It’s a feeling inside, energy that you put out and the wanting of life keeps you young.

If I ever grow old then I’ll have been the lucky one, given a gift of more time to dream,

My book of life will be full of pages that describe who I am and then one day was.

There will be many thoughts and memories of a man’s life, pictures of my existence,

Will I be forever remembered or perhaps thought of by those still living?

Will only the name of me, that which was given be all that rests of my life,

If I ever grow old will I be of good health and mind to sit back in a rocking chair

So that my children or Grandchildren may listen to me as I share my thoughts.

If I ever grow old then to the lord I’ll thank for this book of life full of stories told.

Keith Garrett

IF I COULD DO IT AGAIN

Never thinking about it as a child, growing as a teen not yet,

Is our path chosen, a small part but it is our choices that conquer.

Where we go or end up later in life is a decision from within us,

Hopefully, we get the chance to do what it is we love and are happy.

Oh! if I could do it again I would change many things about myself,

If I could go back in time I would wonder more about the future.

A better attitude could have changed some of my grief, only some,

I may have been in a different place emotionally and the world.

Tried much harder to keep my friends no matter where I went,

Being better to myself would not have changed who I am but saved me.

We can’t go back and do it again, a reason for this, something to learn,

If I could do it again, some things left alone, things are supposed to be as they are.

Keith Garrett

“TRYING TO FIGURE OUT YESTERDAY”

To live In the moment, that’s what we do as we take hold of today,

The past Is no more real, a memory, pictures In an album to recall.

The things’ we’ve lost and discovered In yesterday remain with us,

Wanting Is a feeling, an emotion of this our human nature.

What do we have today that we did not have yesterday,

A little more and a little less fore to figure out, don’t know why.

A waste of time trying to understand what’s been taken from a hand,

Nothing to be gained, only loss, precious time lost In thought.

So to the future, we walk with arms’ opened wide, what’s In sight,

To yesterday a goodbye as we no longer try changing the story.

Trying to figure out yesterday when life leads us the rest of the way.

Keith Garrett

THOUGHTS OF BACK WHEN

I remember you back then, back when we were young,

Corduroy pants, a t shirt, gliding by on a skateboard, a smile.

A school dance, the who singing squeezebox, you did dance my friend,

A skateboard awaits you, you will dance for eternity, a friend is waiting.

Carey, you had a life, a childhood with friends, roaming the streets of Yorba,

The streets will remain as you have drifted and gone away, you are always.

You wandered the world through the years, life brought smiles and tears,

We were all once thirteen, not a care or worry as we dreamed of what we would be.

A wife, family, you accomplished so much in such a short earthly existence,

A boy once playing little league, a ghost that now walks the never ending streets.

I will always remember you Carey as that boy who walked in a Yorba Linda dream,

Until we meet again Carey William Thomas, may God welcome you into a beautiful, heavenly scene.

I’ll see you again my friend,

Keith Garrett

THOUGHTS OF BACK WHEN

I remember you back then, back when we were young,

Corduroy pants, a t shirt, gliding by on a skateboard, a smile.

A school dance, the who singing squeezebox, you did dance my friend,

A skateboard awaits you, you will dance for eternity, a friend is waiting.

Carey, you had a life, a childhood with friends, roaming the streets of Yorba,

The streets will remain as you have drifted and gone away, you are always.

You wandered the world through the years, life brought smiles and tears,

We were all once thirteen, not a care or worry as we dreamed of what we would be.

A wife, family, you accomplished so much in such a short earthly existence,

A boy once playing little league, a ghost that now walks the never ending streets.

I will always remember you Carey as that boy who walked in a Yorba Linda dream,

Until we meet again Carey William Thomas, may God welcome you into a beautiful, heavenly scene.

I’ll see you again my friend,

Keith Garrett

I HAVE A NAME!

I am a man whom Is strong and feeling, I am,

When my road Is traveled’ then power Is felt.

Hopes and dreams’ keep me In stride, my dreams’,

Children have I by the number of three, yes these three.

Once there was a wife, then a woman loved by me,

She enters’ my world but not often enough, better than not.

Life puts In front of this soul many beautiful things,

Stand alone do I as my search continues for her.

The sun rises which Is a wonderful gift to see,

Another day to wonder about dreams’ dreamed.

I have a name.

Keith Garrett

I HAD TO HURRY

I wish I could have seen you when I called you up today,

But I was in a hurry and I had to rush away.

I had to catch a certain train to keep a special date,

And I could offer no excuse if I arrived there late.

I wish I could have been with you if only for a while,

To hold your hand, to touch your lips, and see your sunny smile.

But there will be another time when we can be alone,

And I can tell you how I long to have you for my own.

So please be patient, dearest one and put your trust in me,

And someday I shall be your own for all eternity.

I try to add up all the joys that I have known with you,

And though I add a thousand times, the count is never true.

There is no number great enough or one that could come near,

The total of the smiles that you have given me, my dear.

My every happiness is one according to yo your smile,

And every smile has been an inch along my every mile.

Each little message from the heart, in every song and sign,

Has been a brighter dream for me, to keep my spirit high.

I could not stand to count them all, but every day and year,

I want you more than ever and I love you and thank you, dear.

Leon Russell Garrett

My father

I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT

I could feel the nervousness, the nausea in my stomach,

It was so real as I could first see my favorite singer before me.

The crowd was roaring as I found myself up there on the stage,

In my sleep, I could hear tender years, where was I at this time.?

Friends and family were there but it was so dark, no faces to be,

All were watching as now there appeared a band, I was to sing and play.

This was my big chance but I could not sing or play this guitar in my hands,

Eyes were on me, now the invisible crowd was everywhere, I was there.

The dark side, Johnny B. Goode was being sung with guitar as I watched,

Within a moment it was I who was playing that guitar and singing with another.

I had a dream last night, was it real, no but the experience was there when I awoke.

Keith Garrett

I COULD SEE TOMORROW

Stood did I in the early evening watching the sun disappear,

A nice breeze passed me by as I watched the darkening sky.

How far do I have to see for it to be tomorrow, only can be imagined,

Far ahead of me I see many things to be dreamed, I can see tomorrow.

There are hopes of mine that are thought of as I stand here watching the day go away,

I could see what I want to be but the world has its own plan, I think of its destiny.

I see the people coming together as one, making a place of love and peace, I dream,

Reality speaks in between as I fool myself that this is a possibility, not to be.

I could see countries at peace within themselves as well as with all other races,

I stand here in my yard while another day of my life fades, never shall this be.

I could see tomorrow, bombs of destruction dismantled and destroyed, maybe,?

What a dreamer I must be, the world will be gone before this is something I see,

I could see tomorrow, the way I want it to be, what a dream, a possibility.

Keith Garrett