HEAD HELD HIGH

SHOULDERS BACK

Whatever gets you down, that which makes you frown,

Don’t let it take from you the smile from your face.

We meet with obstacles and challenges brought forth,

Tests of faith and courage to see what we’re made of.

Painful scars, we all hold something inside,

One foot in front of the other, we may cry but no surrender.

Each day we are blessed as also we are taught,

Some things are never easy, we strive for happiness.

Grateful for things we have, for the love of just one person,

We borrow trouble if we worry about what has yet to come.

Head held high, shoulders back,

Strength is every moment that we never give in.

Keith Garrett

MY ESPERANZA FRIENDS

You can’t go back but it sure is nice to visit, physically I have,

Mentally, I have the greatest of memories of those days in Yorba.

So with a pen I share these thoughts of a yesterday so far in the past,

Memories shall be brought to the future as I think and write of you.

Can you recall the summer before your ninth grade year, vacation is here,

Three months off to sleep in, head for the beach, and hang out with friends.

A big change from eighth grade over the Summer, getting ready for what’s next,

Enjoy the sun, have some fun as high school is coming fast, teen years, a blast.

Best friends, girl friends or boy friends, do you think of back then when we were friends?

Vending machines and future dreams, where are you now as yesterday is no more,

I saw you my friends back then as ninth grade began, I had to leave you before the sun set.

A great high school you were with people I will never forget, the sun set went down,

We aged a little by high schools end, still teenagers as life would begin again.

There is a certain goodbye we say many times in our lives, remember school, it was cool,

My Esperanza friends, I have never forgotten you, i lost a few and the rest will forever be missed.

Keith Garrett

HE WOULD RAISE THE FLAG

An american, a patriot who did fight many battles,

His time spent in a prisoner of war camp was not pretty.

Doing that which he believed to be right was a high price,

A disgrace to his uniform but a man of principles and honor.

They could not break him, he would not crumble and fall,

He was not now less than who he was before, a man of strength.

He would speak of his rights, the rights of other prisoners,

He wanted to raise the flag, men would join him in his plight.

He would raise the flag and pay the ultimate price for the right,

Shot in the back, he died while the flag was high in flight.

Keith Garrett

Through a twister she journeyed across the sky, From her home in Kansas she and her dog said goodbye. To fantasy from reality in a place she fell, Of tiny people in t…

Source: THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

A SMALL HOUSE

Along the banks of a river, is home,

Apple trees and hills of grass live here.

A small house for a family of people,

Food on the table and a fire burning warm.

Sitting on the porch, a fiddle in hand I am,

A pipe to smoke is an evening kind of thing.

Horses are down for the night, children in our sight,

Nineteenth century life is quite a fight.

A small house is all we need to believe,

Hopes and dreams are seen as far as our eyes can see.

Keith Garrett

HE WOULD BUILD AN ALTAR

Nobody believed he would survive as he lay there dying inside,

This young boy of twelve shot by an evil man with no heart.

A father with a faith so strong would never give up on a son,

His family, friends, and a town were concerned about his behavior.

He took his son to a wide open field of green grass where he might heal,

Set up camp and began to pray while his son lay motionless, staring.

He would build an altar of stone with a cross placed upon the top,

Seen for miles by travelers, talk of this altar and father would also spread.

Night was falling, the sun setting, supper was ready, and a visitor would show,

An old man with a cane would ask, let me try as the boy would not take broth.

The old man asked, if he is not saved will you lose your faith,? No said the father,

The old man went behind the altar, the father followed and the old man was gone.

Nothing but distance all around, where could he have gone, the father believed,

The father now wore a beard as the next night a storm was forming, this be the night.

The old man appeared in the dark and told the father, go to the altar! now!,

Lightening struck the altar and the father fell to the ground, the night was done.

When morning came and the sun rose in the sky his family was there wondering,

The father stepped from behind the altar, a true miracle as did his son with life.

Keith Garrett

THE DUSTY TRAIL

Traveling through an untamed land, I travel,

All that I own packed upon my horse and wagon.

There’s a lot of quiet time thinking and looking,

As the day ends I set camp, a fire, supper, and my horse.

Noises of the night are owls, crickets, or the wind,

Lucky am I to hold this guitar in hand.

Feed my horse and off to bed for a little rest,

A gun close by as I sleep with an open eye.

Just call me bob as when the sun rises I’ll be gone,

A hot cup of coffee, a bite to eat, and off I go.

The dusty trail takes me to many places of sight,

I travel by day then it’s time to stop for a much wanted, peaceful night.

Keith Garrett

HE WAS A DOCTOR,

NOT GOD

He learned to heal as only a man can, he was human,

A womans husband dies, he loses faith in himself,

People he knew in a town also lose faith in a friend.

He was a doctor who did care about pain and suffering,

Angry at himself because he failed another, could not cure.

He was a doctor, not perfect in any way, not made of miracles,

He turned his back on his profession, he turned his back on himself.

He needed to figure it out, he went home, back to a simple life,

Working on his farm, away from the pain and death that ate at him.

This wasn’t who he was, down inside he was a healing man, a doctor,

What he realized, he was a doctor, not god.

Keith Garrett

NOTHING

At one time or another everything was nothing,

One day in time nothing would and will turn to everything.

Nothing is a word used in many ways, decay into nothing,

” You are nothing” can be a lifetime emotional scar that haunts.

What are you doing? a friend or child may respond with nothing!

I did nothing today, you must have done something, nothing can not be done.

Nothing can be so lonely, as it can not be seen, it does not have any dreams,

” I have nothing to live for” listen close, as we all have the greatest things to live for.

I was nothing until I met you, I was more than I thought before it was me and you,

Nothing is only a word, it is a sound that many a soul have heard with a word.

Keith Garrett

Like mystical knights from a time long since past,           These three surviving warriors are back at last. A golden god wailing tunes that echo through our minds, With emotion to his a…

Source: MYSTICAL TUNES OF LONG AGO