When you were a child you believed in Santa as he flew across the sky,

He traveled the night bringing presents to children throughout the world.

He lived at a magical place up at the north pole where elves made toys,

Reindeer that flew you thought were real, then listen to this if you believed in Santa.

He created the universe, heaven and earth are a masterpiece from god in heaven,

If you do pray then you will see and feel special things of hope and peace in your life.

You can believe in god because the cycle of life is a magnificent gift without coincidence,

It may be that we don’t see god physically but if we believe then we see him with our hearts.

Believe in Jesus as he did once walk this earth over two thousand years before,

He was a real man whom spread the words of god and was a hard working carpenter.

The son of god he is if in your heart you believe just as you could believe in fairy tales,

It is truth that Jesus sacrificed his life for others as he died in pain on a cross of reality.

Keith Garrett

Remember yesterday as we ran through the fields of play,

Children of innocence had much to say, no worries of the day.

Tomorrow has no memory, are we even in its thoughts,?

Tomorrow is our hope, we have today, only today.

For granted is taken the mornings rising sun,

As we slip into slumber, will awake in our beds.?

We have today to breathe as we please, with our eyes we see,

Laugh today, hold on and love as much as we can.

You are energy, you are the raging waters that flow neverending,

You are the sparkle in the sky, the shining star that never dies.

Strength and power are you, stand tall and touch the sky,

Close your eyes, feel as your courage reaches far and wide,

We have today, my hand reaches for you, i am with you.

Keith Garrett

Suddenly in just an instance you were there,
I do not know you, you are everywhere.
You appeared with a name, it does not say from where you came,
A smile of mystery, a face never before seen.
I have a name, it does not speak of who I am,
A mask is worn, that I might not be hurt.
Many thoughts and fears live within my spirit,
I’ve been everywhere if nowhere.
I hide and run to keep myself from harm,
There are faces I wear, faces of change.
Do you know me at all, more than yesterday,
I speak from the heart, there is no shame.

Keith Garrett

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 he.

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 to 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

I thought about it a little more recently as i stroll through the park,

So sad it is for some of them as they are hard working and lost everything.

For others there are no excuses only bad choices or criminal doing,

Some get lost in the cracks as the help that is for them needed does not care.

We have homeless heroes, how is it possible when they gave their all,

Some are sick and hurt as they lost more than their material life.

A different kind of home they now have, not what they remember,

Let me describe it to you, some of us are a paycheck away, maybe a day.

The roof over their head may be a clear sky or a rainy night,

The walls around them are not the same as they often change.

A couch wherever they sit, a bed wherever they rest their head,

Television set, that which is taken in by their wishing eyes.

A shower for granted taken each day, when will a shower come their way,

gone now is the refrigerator that was, like an animal they search now.

A different kind of home not that they can call their own, they roam,

Circumstances of why, many reasons you see, sadness wears many feet.

Keith Garrett

Somewhere among the crowd one of them may be shopping,

At a restaurant they could be sitting at a table before your eyes.

A beautiful day at the beach in some year past or present they were,

Might have been at a ball game cheering just as you were having a day.

Walking down the street it could be you pass them by each day not knowing,

When you see them it is most possible that the years have disguised them.

Sometimes and not to often we may slow down and take notice of a face,

It may not be whom we wish to see or maybe the most fortunate are we.

At times i wonder if down the street they may live a neighbor not known by me,

A nod on the street by a passer by, a smile from a face that might be a friend indeed.

Over the years we spread further apart, not always in distance but in time,

When you see them take a closer look as they are no longer whom they were back then.

Keith Garrett

There have been times in my life when i have stumbled, fallen,

I have always picked myself up and endured what has happened.

I have wandered in the dark many times in my life, not in the physical sense,

At times lost and alone was i as a child growing up, a sense of fear filled me.

Being shy, not very big as there were bullies of the world lurking in the shadows,

Wandering in the dark as i could not see the possibilities or answers all around me.

To be strong mentally, to acchieve by pushing on, overcome obstacles never so great,

When you can understand that you need not fear another man as he like you is of flesh and blood,

Stand strong just as once a man of flesh and blood stood for what he believed, possibly some fear.

To wander in the dark comes in many forms, to find the light, see it, takes a little wisdom, strength,

And a belief in yourself that you are as important, special, and faith will guide you by the hand.

Keith Garrett

So many different places show you a lifetime of remembered and forgotten faces,

With every passing year it is with sadness that a family member or old friends may disappear.

Lucky are we for having those we care about and love in our lives for whatever time there is,

I have had friends from the beginning of my time, to recall them all is without possibility.

They drift from my mind but yet they may be somewhere older and still quite alive,

Wherever they are alive and possibly forgotten or carefully kept close inside, i’ve been blessed.

Some are fortunate in this life to have a friend or two whom have been with them a lifetime,

There are those friends thought of and missed very much and never seen again as we move on.

With every passing year the cycle of life continues as even a new born baby ages with each day,

The future appears constantly without fail, everyone goes away but always comes another day.

With every passing year memories drift further away into places that don’t remember whom we are,

Children play in parks where we as friends did play, did we leave a trace, we went away.

They run on school playgrounds where even teachers aren’t the same, did we leave our names,

Time marches on, something of us will always remain but who out there will ever see.

Keith Garrett

WHAT HAPPENED TO YESTERDAY?

We were children, we would wake to the morning not wanting to rise,

Climb from our beds to the sound of parents yelling out, get ready for school!

Starting out young walking off to school, messing around along the way,

A few lessons to be learned, recess was always the sound forever heard.

When the day was done we walked home together as friends of youth,

Problems were few but to all of us it was the end of our world.

We didn’t always as kids appreciate those things that we were given,

Now we are older than they were with children of our own grown.

What happened to yesterday when Basketball after school with a friend

Was a time that we thought for us could never end, memories of them.

Weekends and Summers swimming, sometimes just doing nothing,

There’s a reason we can’t go back, a world to be discovered, there is a

Gift we are given to hold those thoughts as videos, pictures in our mind.

What happened to yesterday when we as children of innocence went away,

Today we are still us, kids of past days, older now in many different ways.

I heard that a child, a friend from yesterday has gone away, in heaven he’ll stay.

Keith Garrett
For you George Morgan

ALL ALONE TONIGHT

I pulled up in the driveway, there weren’t any lights on,

Stepped out from the car as the dog was barking loud.

I caught a glimpse of a full moon rising high in the night,

Took my keys from my pocket, unlocked and opened the door.

Flipped on the light before into my house i did step,

Is anyone home, no answer would i get.

To the back door i went to let the noisy dog in,

Wagging his tail and licking my chin.

I turned on the t.v. and put on a favorite show,

Made myself a strong drink, there’s nobody home.

A bag of chips and a sandwich, no wife or sign of any kids,

It’s been such a long day, maybe they all ran away.

Up the stairs i went to make sure this wasn’t a joke,

The rooms were empty, no consideration not even a note.

I fed the dog, i put out the trash, no respect for the things i give,

Should i be concerned that they’re nowhere to be found,

If they don’t care how i feel then my drink and i will relax on the couch.

All alone tonight, not a family in sight, a dog is faithful at my side,

Peaceful and quiet, another drink and i’m feeling alright, not a bad night.

I suppose i should now worry with no word as it’s getting kind of late,

One more drink and perhaps i’ll call the police, maybe just go to sleep,

The phone just rang, they went to the movies, what a family as they had no care for me.

Keith Garrett