A TOUCH OF CANCER

We are alive, on the same path, a day all will die,

One day to oblivion we will be, before that let’s see.

A journey to an eternal place but we live from day to day,

Feeling good, happy as we awake to the morning light.

We are born, it’s a wonderful gift as we slowly sicken from that day,

Don’t get me wrong fore life holds many beautiful scenes I agree.

None of us are really sick just a touch of cancer that steals our day,

A touch of Cancer, It seeks us out in different ways, in the world always.

Keith Garrett

A THANK YOU DEAR LORD

It’s me again, many thoughts swirl in my head,

For this life you gave to me, i am most grateful.

I wake each morning to the rain or shine,

You’ve let me walk your worldly creation, i’m still alive.

I forget at times and also for granted take,

This life is precious, there’s much good in the world.

A thank you dear lord for the things given to me,

The wonders of this land at times are hard to see.

I’ll try to remember that fragile is man,

Speak to you soon, i keep trying to understand and be the best i can.

Keith Garrett

DANCE HALL GIRLS

From a hard days work they come to town,

Out on the range, from their farms, from the saddle.

For a drink, a card game, or something to eat,

They come to let off steam, music and dance hall girls, on this night in the heat.

In dresses with smiles it is their job too entertain,

A drink with a cowboy, a fantasy for he.

They drink and they gamble, dance with the girls,

Hoping too spend a night not alone.

Dance hall girls in an old western town,

Men come from all over for the scent of perfume and a smile.

Keith Garrett

A SUMMER NIGHT

When the sun goes down and the heat of day fades,

A quiet visits the night, crickets are alive yet not in sight.

Darkness has a certain feel to it, peaceful is my thought,

While many living things drift off to sleep day begins too.

Stars so bright hanging in stillness beyond what is sky,

The moon shows its light, high above it watches always,

A Summer night has its own beauty till mornings light.

Keith Garrett

A STRANGER

Cobwebs and tumbleweeds, traces of life and the past,

A forgotten road not so often traveled, not anymore.

Where do they go, the ones we once knew and walked with,

More and more they become ghosts, faded faces from yesterday.

Time slips away slowly into my tomorrow where my memories are found,

Friends are now strangers, strangers are now my friends.

There once lived a woman whom i did not know. she lived her life without me,

In her there was not a thought of me, for me she had no meaning.

This stranger that i had not met would someday be the love a man could not forget,

Like the wind forever blowing, she has drifted, a stranger i never knew.

Where did you go! where did you go! a stranger i love, a woman i’ll never know.

Keith Garrett

“LAWMAN”

He pins on a badge, watches over his town,

Makes his stand against outlaws of the gun.

Saddles his horse, gun belt strapped on tight,

Leads a possee, chases those on the run,

A lawman is he from sun till sun.

Not a medal is handed for the life he will give,

He upholds the law in his long ago town,

Bandits and killers, he’ll hunt them down.

Lawman for the people, for those whom are of good,

He knows of his worth, he needs no reward.

Keith Garrett

I LISTENED TODAY

My day had changed, some people appeared to me,

As I was thinking of my losses and more too lose again.

Things become much brighter when you learn of a worse pain,

From a country, Guatemala is from where once they came.

Our paths had crossed for a reason I do believe, meant to be,

I gave them many things that were of help and worth far away.

A man told me of life as a child in a place much different than here,

A tortilla on the ground, brown and some green, a fight for this meal.

He spoke of trimming away the bad and eating what was left,

Of cheese that was molding after some days, clean away the worms, okay.

If we would throw upon the ground our food not wanted, pick up they would do,

His story of a father who died from sickness and hunger so that they could eat.

All the clothing I gave to them would be to those over there like gold or money,

Shoes for their feet, today such a great feeling, my plans had changed.

He said to me, ” If you think you’re full and had enough too eat, save half

For tomorrow, fore nothing matters more than the hunger inside.

I listened today to a man who was once a child in a sorrowful place.

Keith Garrett

A SIMPLE MIND, A HEART SO PURE

He lived a life of dreams, the world was a strange place,

A boy so different to others, he learned to run away.

A simple mind, called stupid for the way he saw things,

A girl he would befriend, under a big Oak tree they would swing.

A simple mind, a heart so pure belonged to this thinking man,

He saw all things in such a simple manner, a gentle soul.

Time would take him full circle back to where he started,

He would love, lose, and then love again, a girl on a swing.

A child of his own, married did he this love from childhood,

He had everything to share, sickness would take his love away,

A simple mind, a heart so pure would burry his wife under that Oak tree of before.

Keith Garrett

A SIMPLE DAY

Wake up to a mixture of clouds and sun,

Feed the birds and squirrels, it’s morning now.

A cup of coffee, no caffeine for me, a quiet thought,

The world is much to fast, faster than what I have come to be,

I can now get things done, the way I want it to be for me.

A simple day in the rain or sun, I have some time to have some fun,

At the computer my thoughts are given out to the world.

A simple day, nothing gets in my way, I can keep to myself,

A movie, a show, exercise that keeps me healthy and ready to go.

Keith Garrett

A SAILOR

A sailor talks of far away lands and the ports where he would like to be,

He relates to all in a salty drawl, his love for the roll of the sea.

Let’s hear him boast of powers so great, let’s hear of his deeds so bold,

Let’s hear him tell of seas of hell, and the treasures he’s bought and sold.

Let’s hear his yarn of the south sea Isles, his romance on balis shores,

Or the girl he had with eyes so sad in the land of the sliding doors.

And let me tell you what you never hear, of the loneliness that tortures his soul,

When the sun’s last light gives into night, he’s a dreamer, not a sailor so bold.

Yes, a sailor dreams when the sun goes down, and the wind lies slack on the sea,

Of the heavenly bliss of a woman’s kiss, and the home where he longs to be.

There a lamp burns low thru the lonely night, there a heart waits patiently,

There tears are shed as a prayer is said for a sailor who dreams at sea.

To live his past let no man wish for there is more than the tales he told,

Though his laugh is long and his heart is strong, inside he wrestles his soul.

Leon Russell Garrett