BEFORE AND AFTER
There was a time when I was not here,
No thoughts, no name or Identity were mine.
I had no pain or sorrow, not a thing for me to know,
Where was I before I became me, somewhere waiting?
A time will come when I am no longer here, will I have
Thoughts?
A name remembered, my Identity will not be this body
Or mind,
Again there will be no pain or sorrow, I will be somewhere
Else,
Before and after, heaven bound, where was I before my
First sound?
Keith Garrett
A WAND OF MAGIC
A WAND OF MAGIC
In hand, a wand would make me a magic man,
Not even a word and crime would disappear.
I could stop time, rid the world of trash or pollution,
Take away the sick waters of rivers and oceans.
Murder on our land would be stopped with a hand,
The ill would be no more, cancer but a memory.
I could run fast or jump high,
A tear would be one less for all of mankind.
The cruel slaughter of creatures in the world,
With a wave from my hand, this would end.
A wand of magic need not be that of evil,
For love and good, the hand that holds this wand.
A wand of magic is not to be real,
We can wish, hope, and pray, that it all goes away.
Keith Garrett
A WAND OF MAGIC
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A WAND OF MAGIC
In hand, a wand would make me a magic man,
Not even a word and crime would disappear.
I could stop time, rid the world of trash or pollution,
Take away the sick waters of rivers and oceans.
Murder on our land would be stopped with a hand,
The ill would be no more, cancer but a memory.
I could run fast or jump high,
A tear would be one less for all of mankind.
The cruel slaughter of creatures in the world,
With a wave from my hand, this would end.
A wand of magic need not be that of evil,
For love and good, the hand that holds this wand.
A wand of magic is not to be real,
We can wish, hope, and pray, that it all goes away.
Keith Garrett
MY STORY I TELL, HE SAILED THE SEAS
MY STORY I TELL,
HE SAILED THE SEAS
My father, he was a sailing man on the Newport News, a Navy man,
He stood on a ship across the seas to foreign lands before I knew of him.
Oh! Father dear, just what things did you see,
Around the world, you traveled so long ago.
Father of mine, what were you like as a boy,
Did you dream of the sea, did you dream like me?
I know you wrote of poetry, words today, I write like thee,
You traveled around the Korean War,
It didn’t do you in as this land did.
Were you drunk or were you blind when you stood so high
Above the ocean shore,
What were your thoughts, were you thinking at all,
Why didn’t you hide from the deadly fall?
You’re up in the sky in heaven so high, daddy dear
Please tell me why,
You died so young, you left me behind,
The more I think of you, the older I find,
You were a Navy man, you’re sailing again,
Across the heavenly seas is where you be.
Keith Garrett My father, Leon Russell Garrett
HER SOUL A THOUSAND YEAR OLD
HER SOUL,
A THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
Her face, a look that says she comes from a different place,
A smile that lights up within a darkness, so young but old.
She sings out with an operatic sound, mesmerizing to the ear,
Into a state of wonder that will take you away, watch her eyes.
Appears does she as a little girl, maybe from a long ago world,
Sings as if she has lived lifetimes, her voice echoes with years,
It is that her soul could be that of a thousand years old.
Keith Garrett
PIECES OF TIME
PIECES OF TIME
Our time as humans, animals, anything living loses time,
All created things age with time, their are many quotes
About time.
Time does get older but never does it go away, never backwards,
A clock, a watch, the ancient sun dial that watched our day pass,
An hourglass of sand, those which remind us always of our time.
Pieces of time, a memory thought of with long lost friends,
Older now,
Pictures on a mantle, photographs and picture albums, dust coverd.
Antiques, old relics lost with time, discovered within aging places,
Pieces of time, an old remembered house, friends that rest inside.
Keith Garrett
QUIET DAY IN NOVEMBER
QUIET DAY IN NOVEMBER
Each November there is a tradition, a feast for a day,
Appreciate and be thankful for what you think you don't
Have.
So many lessons we have never learned in a country of anger,
A fast paced life as we pass one another by, a face seen, a
Name not known.
When will we stand together as they did so long ago in
Sixteen twenty one,
Put all differences aside, racism, the color of skin, and all
Those crazy protests.
Let's make it a quiet day in November, rest, be with your
Families, don't take for granted,
Thanksgiving is easier, football games and a beer or possibly
A few drinks to think over.
Enjoy your day as some can not have, eat more than you need
As others don't have,
A day of health and happiness is more than a material thing
Wished upon to often.
So let's have a quiet day in November, have some peace for
Just a while, anyway,
The Autumn leaves are falling, just as they did hundreds of
Years ago on a Fall day. Keith Garrett
PORTRAIT OF A MAN
PORTRAIT OF A MAN
Eyes that stare with emotion, this is Bruce Springsteen.
When young dark hair, now a head of gray,
Once just starting out, today a man of experience and
Wisdom,
Seeing with his heart and mind visions of the world,
A story told of life by way of music and song.
This is a picture, a portrait of a man,
A mark he has left here on this land.
THEY CALL HIM THE BOSS
Keith Garrett
A FACE THAT LIES
A FACE THAT LIES
The devils eyes have a face that lies,
It smiles at you with promises so false.
Giving you gifts of sinful things,
Changing your appearance, a picture of greed and evil.
It taunts you into believing that bad is good,
Material belongings are most precious, love not kind.
Stand and be recognized, a face that lies,
Don't stare in the eyes of what does not cry.
Accept not a wish, not a gift from a demon spirit,
Give not of yourself, in an instance he'll own your soul.
A face that lies has many by his side,
They walk as you walk, do not be fooled, this is no heavenly
Stroll to the sky
Keith Garrett
A FACE THAT LIES
A FACE THAT LIES
The devils eyes have a face that lies,
It smiles at you with promises so false.
Giving you gifts of sinful things,
Changing your appearance, a picture of greed and evil.
It taunts you into believing that bad is good,
Material belongings are most precious, love not kind.
Stand and be recognized, a face that lies,
Don't stare in the eyes of what does not cry.
Accept not a wish, not a gift from a demon spirit,
Give not of yourself, in an instance he'll own your soul.
A face that lies has many by his side,
They walk as you walk, do not be fooled, this is no heavenly
stroll to the sky.
Keith Garrett
