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

                                                                                                  
             1969


 I was a child in 1969, I had not a clue of the 
 World,

 I knew of certain things, those of which I lived 
 Through.

 Riding my bike and a deadly Halloween night, that's 
 Right,

 I remember all that I did as a kid, a lifetime ago, 
 And a family.

 Vietnam was a reality, and I was protected by my 
 Childish world,

 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, Clint Eastwood 
 Was the man.

 Raindrops keep falling on my head, Simon and Garfunkel
 Were grand,

 Scooby- Doo and all of the colorful cartoons that I knew,
 I think of you.

 Baseball with the miracle mets, Bill Russell, and the 
 champion celtics,

 Joe Namath with his Guarantee, the Jets beat the Colts, 
 Charles Manson, and history.


 The Innocence of the Brady Bunch, walk on the moon, 
 Led Zeppelin, and a tune,

 1969 was the year when love and innocence were mixed 
 With my day.

               Keith Garrett

                                                                                                                
           BE NOT HERE



                                                                                                                            Disappear, go away and leave me alone,

                                                                                 
 I don't need you anymore, you bring nothing.


 My energy is being drained, a piece taken away,

                                                                                     
 You're out there but I need you not here.

                                                                                    
 Be not here whomever you are, stay away,


 I've seen you in too many places around this 
 World.

                                                                            
 You've done much harm to me fore you are them,


 You don't have a place in my life, a disease you be.

                                                                               
 Not to be trusted, worn by you are many faces,


 Many faces you are, which might be the right one,


 Be not here and I won't have to wonder who you are.


                Keith Garrett

                                                                                                       
           ALONG A COUNTRY ROAD



 These things I might find strolling along a 
 Country road,

 From my mind I can create a day or reality 
 Along my way.

 I see the sun rising in the early morning sky, 
 My day begins,

 Dream do I of a perfect setting, fields and 
 Hills of beautiful color.

 Nothing can go wrong, not in this made up scene
 That I want it to be,

 Swim do I in a pond that appears along a country 
 Road, quiet and alone.

 There is a wind blowing through the trees, across 
 The field I feel,

 Hay stacks scattered in a country dream, a farm 
 Where i wish to be.

 Along a country road all possibilities unfold,   
 From a dream, All that can be seen.

                     Keith Garrett

                                                                                       
              AN ALWAYS CHANGING SKY



 A light shade of gray evenly covering that 
 Which lives below,

 Clouds so heavy and thick with moisture ready 
 To rain down.

 In the early evening as the sun fades many shades 
 Of color,

 After dark on a clear, stary night you can see 
 Forever high.

 Big, white, fluffy clouds of many shapes sitting 
 Still above your head,

 With the wind you'll see their shapes change and 
 Drift slowly away.

 Thunder and lightning visit a dark, stormy day, 
 The sun is there,

 Hiding beyond the blanket of nature, the sun still
 Shines without sight,

 An always changing sky, never the same throughout 
 Any given day.

 The sky is always there, it is the elements that 
 Move through and change it,
                         Keith Garrett

                                                                            
              ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE


 I write to you from yesterday, a very long 
 Time ago for you,

 Long before you were born in a town of people 
 And family.

 My family and I were up before the break of dawn, 
 Working,

 Children of  a simple time but at times not so
 Simple you see.

 Horses were a common thing just as your car is 
 In your time,

 Things of your day not dreamed up as of yet, life 
 Was hard, also fun.

 Here in yesterday there is sickness that kills many 
 As there is no medicine,

 As I sit here on my farm watching my wife and kids  
 Play, I write this to you.

 When you receive my letter it will be that I and those
 I love will be gone now,

 You will have all the things that we here have seen,
 Good and bad.

 There are beautiful things and land that will disappear 
 With time, I can see them,


 I live here in another time and place just as you do, 
 I hope this letter gets to you.                   

              Keith Garrett

                                                                                       
                  BABOON


 Baboon, poor baboon, why are you the brunt of 
 everyone's jokes,


 "You're acting like a bunch of baboons"  says the 
 Teacher to her students.


 "Quit jumping around like  a baboon"  were you 
 Born in a zoo,


 saw someone today, he was as ugly as a Baboon, 
 What a face.


 "You need to see a dentist" " you have teeth like 
 A baboon"


 Some people laugh with the sound of a Baboon, poor 
 Baboon.


 They are made fun of, they appear to be something 
 So bad,


 Perhaps misunderstood, in the jungle not so sad, 
 Maybe glad.
                     Keith Garrett

                 THE PIED PIPER


 Within the hills one day, It was that I did hear 
 The piper play,


 Hiding in the grass so deep, witnessed did I magic 
 We would need.


 Music of the piper echoed within ears that could 
 Not hear,


 People from a town called Hamelin had so much to fear.



 This piper, dressed in colorful attire, robe and hat, 
 A musical pipe,


 A deal he made with a council to rid Hamelin of a mass 
 Of rats.


 With musical notes they were lead to the river of death.



 When they went back on their word and did not pay,



 This mysterious, magical piper took all the children 
 away,


 When the time came that they agreed to pay, the pied  
 Piper


 Never again came to stay.

           Keith Garrett

               "THE MEANING OF LIFE
                       AND
            THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME"

 Does God have a plan, what Is his plan, could this 
 Be his experiment,   
 From our first breath until our last breath there 
 is life in-between.                       
 The mystery of why we are here Is perhaps overthought, 
 What is this life,            
 We walk and dream In this short existence known to us 
 As forever.
 The meaning of life appears very simple and not so 
 Confusing dear one,         
 Sit back and listen as I give my heart felt thoughts 
 Of where we are and why.
 Watch the trees, see them dance against the unseen       
 But softly felt breeze,
 Do you believe what has been put before you and me,      
 understand the gift.
 Love and laughter, pain and sorrow, must be a feeling 
 For all to know,             
 All that lives Is born to die, from the beginning of 
 Time we age and say goodbye.
 See the mountain and walk Its' path, step by step, 
 Time will pass into tomorrow,            
 The sky travels, It Is the clouds that guide the way, 
 See all things that are dreamed.
 The ocean will be, after on this Earth you and I are  
 But a memory, hear the ocean,
 Put your feet Into the sandy beach, feel the sand, 
 Walk along the timeless shore.
 Touch another's heart with the love and care that  
 Is possessed by you, reach out,
 Let go of the tears of many years with a forgiving 
 Smile that lasts a lifetime.
 If we see the sunrise, will we see the sunset again 
 The same day,            
 Are we blind, do we take for granted the beauty of 
 Our world.
 When It rains do we cry about that which falls down 
 Upon us, do we wonder why,          
 Listen for the sound, take in the drops of life that 
 Take us way on down the road.
 The meaning of life and the world according to me Is 
 From inside all that this man may see,                  
 God has laid these truly wonderous things before us,  
 To see, to dream all that can be.
          

             Keith Garrett

               " FACE OF A MAN"


 Look my way, stare Into these aging eyes of green, 
 I've seen,

 Hair of a lost blonde, long gone, reflections' 
 Of change.

 Once whiskers' of a darkness, now a different shade 
 Of life,

 A smile always the same If not hidden beneath sorrow 
 Or pain.

 Lines appear on this face when seen through the days'
 Sunlight,

 Growing older but never so old as to give up the search, 
 I'm searching.

 Through the tears' laughter finds' a face of love wanted, 
 My face,

 Look my way, this Is the face of a man, expressions' 
 Of thought show through.

 More than a stare, a smile, or many pictures combined 
 From a world of time,

 Take a closer look, give one more stare, understand 
 The face of a man.

                    Keith Garrett