They were two growing up as children, a town that still exists,

Ages does it just as in some ways a boy and girl grow slowly older.

I remember you both, names for souls whom i once knew in a place,

A wonderful town where for me dreams were a beginning in my mind.

An elementary school high on a hill is where you, a young boy played,

A school yard of kickball and many other games, your voice echoes today.

You , a girl remembered back at a Jr. high where friends are heard in the wind,

Through high school two would travel then beyond that a new road to walk.

Although i haven’t seen you for thirty years I see that you two have been blessed,

Love for a lifetime, a rare and special gift, a book of your lives, chapters to be written.

Keith Garrett

When the sun rises i’ll be waiting, ride with me,

On a beautiful black horse i’ll be sitting.

Wake to the morning, open your sleepy eyes,

Through a bedroom window, can you see me outside.?

Let’s not waste this day as together we’ll share,

Are you ready my darling, let’s ride.

Hold on tight, ride with me across the land,

Beyond the grassy hills, through the tall trees we ride.

Feel the wind all around, through that flowing hair,

As free as can be imagined, only you and me.

A four legged friend will guide us into the day,

Even the sun can’t catch us, we’re gone far away.

Ride with me as we run from nightfall,

Back to where you sleep, back too where again

I’ll be waiting, ride with me.
Keith Garrett

They’re everywhere, in the parks beyond daylight,

Cold and lonely as they hope to eat.

Under the freeways they hide from the world,

Day, by day they live and breathe.

In the alleys huddled beneath what shelters them,

Along the storm drains they make their homes.

They are the forgotten souls who are like you and me,

Pretend they are not there, they do not vanish away.

They have no home, sad as it may be,

Just one step away, just one bad circumstance

And there we all will be.

They have no home, everywhere they roam.

Keith Garrett

Will you have questions, what answers will i give,

Will you be an amazing sight when i stand before you.?

Is my worth, the kind of man that i was on earth be enough,

You are king, your wisdom goes far beyond anything we know.

When i speak of all that i have done good in the world what will you say,

Will i be wrong in thinking that i was better than i really was, you’ll say.?

When i stand before you will you tell me of a better way that my life could have been,

Would you say to me that i may have wasted time worrying about what could not be.?

You are the one i must ask forgiveness to, will you forgive the imperfection in me,

When i stand before you i pray that i was of good, a kind heart, in heaven will i stay.

Keith Garrett

I lived in a time of monsters, great beasts that ruled the land,

There were no words that i spoke, i was a primal man.

I learned to hunt, too eat that which was fought for,

Fearful of the giants that would hunt and eat me.

I learned of fire to keep warm, too cook,

Animal skins for clothing to cover my naked skin.

So long ago that it does not seem possible,

Might i have been the first man to walk this land.

I had no name, not even sure of what i was,

The fight for survival, life was quite short.

From the beginning each day had great length,

Tools and weapons of the time were created to see the next daylight.

I was a man whom once walked the land,

The things that i learned are now in your hands.

Keith Garrett

Watch them fly, as a child, magic in flight,

Different sizes, many paper shapes.

When just a boy, when magic seemed so real,

In my desk there were stacks of paper airplanes,

Colored and ready for takeoff, imagination of a child.

They soared in the sky on a breezy, sun filled day,

I remember those times when i would run and play.

Up on a hill, standing there looking down,

My airplanes of paper ready to sail up high.

Paper airplanes in my time of youth,

I can almost feel it again, i can see it now.

Keith Garrett

God created heaven and earth so that we could live together,

I was thinking as i walked down the street, i looked at a fence,

Touching it with my hands i realized a man would have to climb,

To get to the other side he would have to go beyond where was legal.

This is my space!, you can’t come near it, since the beginning of time,

The world was meant to share, be free to roam, we started building fences.

Around our land, fences to keep others out and mark our territory,

It’s all been broken up into pieces, always a fight that leads to war.

How can any one man or nation own a piece of the sky, stay away they say,

Beyond the sky, do we all have a right to it or is it claimed by the powerful.

Stay away from here!, this is my ocean, be warned or we go to war, do you hear.?

No drink of water for you, someone else owns this lake, river, or stream,

Dirt is not free anymore, there’s a price to be paid, money to be made.

Be careful as soon the air we breathe will not be free, who takes charge i wonder,

If we lived as one and shared the land, there would be room for every soul and man.

Keith Garrett

Behind a set of pine trees, so big and tall they are,

Where the sun shines through the branches up high.

There is a house, an empty house that’s old and weathered,

Around it are shrubs and a pond that rests for many years.

I can feel there is a story here, one to be told from long ago,

A cabin like home where once lived someone, a family gone now.

Wood so old, cracked and worn as if a hundred years ago,

Made of brick and stone, a chimney where fires for warmth were formed.

I walk the grounds where once walked a lonely man, children were born,

Echoes of a fiddle played in the early evening light, listen to laughter from a time.

The empty house has stood through time, imagine this land and what was going on,

Cobwebs where once life walked around, not a sound, the empty house, alone.

Keith Garrett

My face is seen through eyes that do not see,

Opinions or judgement, anger or jealousy.

They form their own truth, they make themselves believe,

That i am something less than what i know to be.

A first impression, a bad impression,

Who are they whom think they sit on a throne.

If they look to the mirror, no perfection to see,

They only know my name, they do not know of me.

A story they tell amongst themselves,

They do not stand and face me.

It is only heard by my ear from breath to breath,

They only know my name, they are known to me.

Keith Garrett

In the dark of night, a clear sky that showed stars of plenty,

I stood last night all alone with my thoughts and fears.

A beautiful, quiet, night with everything around In my sight,

Wondering, thinking about my tomorrow and what’s to come.

I looked far beyond the stars trying hard to see beyond the mystery,

It appeared that all out there was so still to my eyes but forever moving.

I stood last night watching time go by, examing what my life Is about,

Which part of the day might this be In my time, I’m sure It’s a bit past noon.

I stood last night wondering what kind of world I am living In as I age more,

There Is much angry energy around, Is love the greatest wonder of all.?

Keith Garrett