AT THE TOP OF THE LADDER

They think they’re almighty, the top is not kind,

A chain of command they preach, it is a fool who is blind.

They do not listen but they hear what you say,

See only what they want, negative all the way.

Ask for a raise, they’ll see what they can do,

Sorry not right now, you’re the first on the list.

Numbers and robots, w-2 with a name,

If for any reason you don’t like it then please go away.

There’s much for you to do, it’s your job anyway,

We did not invite you here, sorry you don’t like the pay.

More responsibility, just do what we say,

A dime a dozen, you’re replaceable anyway.

Keith Garrett

AT THE TOP OF THE HILL

From where I stand It seems’ so high,

My struggle 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

AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER

Once in a while I travel back in time to a place I walked,

Through my time of youth where I played and ran wild.

I knew of her as a child back in the day of mischief,

Young and full of energy were we, never seemed to be tired.

The heat from the Summer sun wasn’t so harsh at that age,

Growing up in a town of many friends and memories so great.

We lived for the moment as many moments would pass by into the future,

How is it that the grandparents we once had we have now become.?

We changed and went our separate ways, finding our way in this strange world,

Becoming parents, having children and grandchildren as the cycle goes.

Full circle as today we find ourselves in the same place after a lifetime apart,

As long as we’re together nothing else matters, time comes when we need to

Just think of ourselves and let all others live and move along into their future.

As long as we’re together, everything will forever be better.

Keith Garrett

ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE

I write to you from yesterday, a very long time ago for you,

Long before you were born in a town of people and family.

My family and I were up before the break of dawn, working,

Children of a simple time but at times not so simple you see.

Horses were a common thing just as your car is in your time,

Things of your day not dreamed up as of yet, life was hard, also fun.

Here in yesterday there is sickness that kills many as there is no medicine,

As I sit here on my farm watching my wife and kids play I write this to you.

When you receive my letter it will be that I and those I love will be gone now,

You will have all the things that we here have never seen, good and bad.

There are beautiful things and land that will disappear with time, I can see them,

I live here in another time and place just as you do, I hope this letter gets to you.

Keith Garrett

AND YET I HOPE

I want to say hello to you and take your hand in mine,

And whisper that in every way I think you are divine.

But always you are out of reach as much as any star,

And always I must sigh for you and worship from afar.

And always I must dream of you and wish the day would be,

When we would be together and you would belong to me.

I know that time may never come and yet I hope and pray,

That I may kiss your loving lips and I may hear you say.

That we will share the weeks and months and all the years in store,

And you will be my sweetheart and my love forevermore.

Leon Russell Garrett

My father.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

A fight for survival, mans quest for power to rule,

Fear and ignorance but money will be the tool.

Inventors of destruction, builders of a force,

The enemy is our brother, traitor to the land.

Which side are we on, who is on our side,

Conflict and hatred, how many must have to die.?

And then there were none, not much left to say,

Put the bombs away, we may have another day.

Keith Garrett

AN INSTANCE IN TIME

Life is but a flash, just as a lightning bolt strikes and is gone,

The earth is a speck compared to this never ending universe.

If each one us were even given a great gift of one hundred years,

Like a particle of sand compared again to the age of our world.

Like the wind blowing past and gone in the blink of an eye,

An instance in time is what we are given to see and realize.

Keith Garrett

AN ANGRY MAN

Anger, so much mistrust for the world, he’s angry,

That which he cannot control, bothers him so.

Nothing wrong with letting it out, control is what it’s about,

Angry at that which has passed, let this go, an angry man knows.

Feeling at times the universe has let him down, the fire rages,

Inside he feels the water boil, what to do when there’s no place to run.

He pounds his fists against the stone wall, thoughts of vengeance stir,

Get even is one of many stories made from a mans angry mind.

An angry man does not see the road clearly, thinking is altered,

Eats him up inside, wasted energy but how is he to do it right.?

He has been wronged, he is an angry man and needs a smart plan,

An angry man he can be, can an angry man soon find his peace.

Keith Garrett

AN ALWAYS CHANGING SKY

A light shade of gray evenly covering that which lives below,

Clouds so heavy and thick with moisture ready to rain down.

In the early evening as the sun fades many shades of color,

After dark, on a clear, starry night you can see forever high.

Big, white fluffy clouds of many shapes sitting still above your head,

With the wind, you’ll see their shapes change and drift slowly away.

Thunder and lightning visit a dark, stormy day, the sun is there,

Hiding beyond the blanket of nature, the sun still shines without sight.

An always changing sky, never the same throughout any given day,

The sky is always there, it is the elements that move through and change it.

Keith Garrett

AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

My thoughts and memories go way back In time to a faraway place,

Not so far In distance anymore as the distance In my mind, Amesbury.

There are times when I can smell the air and still feel the cold, snow,

I remember I was only four and a half, I do recall that far back, East.

My eyes can see those purple grapes on the vines, the hills up above our house,

Playing with my friend Donnie, we had many adventures as kids back then.

I’m not really sure but there appeared to be woods or trees down our street,

I remember riding my batman bike, a cellar out back I do believe, not a dream.

I had a bag of blocks, all different colors and shapes, I was just a small boy,

I can remember the snow storms that put the power out, I can see candles In the house.

A memory of being In my bed staring at my Herman Munster head on the dresser,

Coloring books, cartoons such as Milton the monster show, Christmas Eve snow.

Icicles hanging from rooftops, making snowmen out In the freezing cold,

Sometimes I want to go home, back to where It all began, when I was most happy.

I remember laying on my parents’ bed, staring up at a full moon, when will they be home,

I think of a dad out In the snow, can somebody answer me, where did he go.?

Throwing snowballs Into the street, cold through my gloves, I remember me,

So many memories locked Inside the mind of a long lost child once upon a time.

Amesbury, Massachusetts seems like a dream, A story written from thoughts of a child,

There once was a boy named Keith, he had a life that’s been written In a book put away.

It sits on a shelf but never does It again get read, thoughts that rest forever In a man’s head.

Keith Garrett