Life in Poetry
These are the words that reveal my life; all the times of joy, and days of strife.
The Calm
Like a motionless tree in a calm,
A quiet moment can still the mind,
And render an occasion of thought so sublime
That a peace that must soon be resigned
May produce a reflection so deep, so prime
That it soothes the stormy mind and bids it becalm.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Days of Yore
Shortly after each day dawns,
The armies break slumber and rise,
To fight the battles of the day,
O’er land and seas and skies,
Though the sun never truly sets
On the war waged for evermore,
Where the forces of good and evil
Continue to clash as in the days of yore.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Lost at Sea
I have passed through life’s stormy sea,
Tossed about, batted and turned around.
The angry waves had churned me under, half-drowned,
Like countless other lost souls desperate and hell bound,
Until a mighty hand lifted me out of the debris,
When I called upon the Lord of the Sea to rescue me.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Thanksgiving
I give thanks for those that I love,
For everyone around our table, or away--
Who could not be here this Thanksgiving Day.
And, I remember those I can no longer embrace,
Whose Thanksgivings are now shared above;
I look to my left and think that was his place,
To the right I still see the smile wrinkling her face,
Silently, I thank the Lord for every single one,
Then end my reverie by thanking God for His Son.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
A Simple Prayer
Lord, please help me to be,
A stronger being, and still be me.
I only want to be a man of sharing,
True to Your word and caring,
Full of love for every man and Thee.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Love’s Cost
Days of happiness
Are far between
The times of loneliness,
Which keep the heart lean
And, through the minds distress
Is revealed a bittersweet scene
Of all the loved one’s lost
And the joyful pain that is love’s cost.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Under the Sun
I asked the reaper to pass me by,
As a matter of convenience.
“Today,” I said, “is not a good day to die.
Surely you can exercise some lenience?
With so many projects left unfinished
Time must surely be allowed,
To ensure all my plans are finished
Before they prepare my burial shroud.
I do not ask to live forever
(at least not upon this earth),
I’m merely concerned for my latest endeavor,
And the legacy of my life’s worth.”
To which the reaper simply replied,
“Men always leave things undone,
Yet, in the end in death they must abide,
Judged not by what was left undone,
But how they lived under the sun.”
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Between Heaven and Hell
What, I ask, is sadder than the nervous smile
Of one who laughs at death?
Whose thoughts or feelings unchecked put faith on trial,
And suspends hope’s breath.
There are a thousand, maybe a million ways to die,
But only one way to lose, or forfeit, your soul.
In the world between heaven and hell we find our ally,
And plot a path to Abraham’s bosom, or the other side of Sheol.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Pickin’ Cotton
I remember the days when I walked to the field along a dusty road,
In late October, just a youngster toting a cotton sack.
Across the field were a dozen or so laborers with backs bowed,
Bent over the cotton stalks, occasionally lifting their load to fill in the slack.
Some worked fast and some worked slow, though we were paid by the pound;
From one end of the field to the other, in the crisp days of Fall,
We worked the fields bole-by-bole, round-by-round,
Hanging each full sack on the scales to weigh-in the haul,
The lonely wind filled with the sounds of a transistor radio’s tinny song,
And the distant voices of other pickers as they drug their sacks along.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Wisdom
One small thought tumbled through my brain
Fraught with misgivings born of natural refrain,
Yet my mind sought ancient wisdom’s fain,
Naught of worldly mean, but heaven’s wisdom to attain.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
A Rainy Day
One weary day not so long ago
An old man with an umbrella came out of the grocery.
He was carrying one small bag, held low,
His body bowed over it as if from the weight of it.
As the rain beat down he walked across the crowded parking lot
Where an impatient driver sped ‘round him washing water
Over his shuffling feet without so much as a backward glance or thought,
Yet the old man seemed to take no notice or even care.
Soon a younger man drew near him, one ever so slow the other ever so fast,
And as they started to pass the old man raised his umbrella slightly
And with a smile said, “Love this rain, don’t’ you? As they passed,
Whereupon the younger man merely nodded and hurried on.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Memories
In quiet moments memories of her came on him like some sort of madness,
Not creeping thoughts or jumbled images, just faded memories wrapped in sadness.
She was so long ago he couldn’t even say that the woman he remembered was real;
Mostly he remembered her smell and how the sadness in her eyes made him feel.
In those moments he supposed there was nothing so true or untrue as memories of love lost;
The faded thoughts of a time when dreams and passion were drawn together and two hearts were briefly crossed.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Ark
All the animals gathered as if on que,
As the storm clouds gathered.
They walked or slithered or flew,
The scaly hided, the furry and the feathered.
They came to Noah as appointed,
whether two by two, or by seven.
All those that God had anointed
Heeded the call from heaven.
All chosen to represent their kind,
And Escape the fate to which others were resigned.
They were cast upon the waters awaiting rebirth,
into a world where all was again made new upon the earth.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Thoughts
Thoughts hang in the mind
Like apples on a tree,
Waiting to be picked.
Fruit of the sweetest kind,
Ripe and ready conceptions,
Fit to be made into reality.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Last Repose
Though he had grown old,
And was not at all well in the end,
It was still quite a shock, and sad when he was gone.
And, His death, as all deaths, left so much to attend;
There’s no avoiding it— when one heart stops the world moves on.
At his viewing I felt nothing of the man I knew,
And thought death, as a business, is sad and cold,
As cold as the body that reposes in silence.
However, the day he was laid to rest was blue and fair,
Perhaps a token of good fortune, or the Reaper’s pilonce,
It gave hope that his eternal breath was in sacred air,
And that his life everlasting will be in paradise true.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
The Crown
The rich man died the same as the poor man.
One was buried in rocky ground,
And the other was laid in a mausoleum carved in grandeur.
But to which one belongs the crown?
They honored the rich man with a public eulogy.
The ragged man was lowered into the earth without renown,
Even as the fine man was being praised for his generous philanthropy.
But to which one belongs the crown?
For all his generosity the rich man was haughty and self-possessed.
In life the poor man had humbly knelt under the heavens as if broken down,
As the wealthy man had looked down on the world from atop his lofty crest.
So to which one belongs the crown?
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Ancestors
The cemetery is full of moss grown stones
With dates and times and names left forgotten.
They stand over decayed boxes full of the bones
Of a generation of hopeful men once begotten.
We read of their sailing ships that on gales and sea waves rose,
And how the children of their children came to be here.
We study artifacts and gaze at the stone faces of their heroes,
But who can tell the story of one common man to draw us near?
I look at an aged headstone no longer legible and wonder,
When I am lowered into the fresh earth to slumber alone
Who will ponder my grave and consider the bones there under,
Yeah, in passing years who will remember the man beneath my stone?
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Child's Play
Skip,
Hop,
It's just child's play.
A sharp tongue
leads to
A push,
A shove,
And Pain.
This is serious business.
Play life's game.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Infidelity
You say to me quietly something,
Well it is, but nothing.
Turning truth into profanity,
Prostituted by your vanity.
You cannot hide the lies,
I see in the falter of your eyes.
Better it would have been
In absentia with a pen
Than to have to see your face
When you honor me with disgrace.
It is not “just a mistake”
That causes this kind of heartache.
Can a few hours of stolen lust
Be worth the price of faith and trust?
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Eagle’s Prey
Up toward the treetop,
On powerful wings ascending now rapidly without stop;
Rising ever higher, far above the ground,
Soaring, spiraling, then a meteoric descent without a sound,
Plunging, claws grasping into the bay,
Then mighty wings carrying upward with food for the day.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Dream
The Dream lingers in the morning silence,
As moments of time unfold in a surreal fashion.
Images of life momentarily more vivid than reality--
Stronger of expression, more creative and full of passion.
If only the days were made of dreams,
And the life we live was the mind’s conception.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Those Were the Days
Those were the days,
Those were the days!
When our heads were full of dreams,
And our hearts were free
to experience the pain of first love's plea,
And all was carried away in life's streams.
Then came the days
When we cast out into the world
And all our dreams faded or became reality,
As our life views became jaded, save for love's lee,
And every stand for truth became a flag unfurled.
Now are the days,
Now are the days,
When we look back with pride and regret,
Our grey heads packed with a life lived near full,
Knowing we must leave loved ones behind by nature's rule,
Hoping to be remembered only for the good we beget.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Drugs
Pills and sirens
A furious pounding
And breath
One, two, three, four
Pounding
And breath
One, two, three, four
Then cough and a sigh
A Life almost wasted
Why?
To live in an artificial reality.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Give Me Time
If my heart seems a little rusty,
and my affection stale and dusty,
Give me time.
For my heart has once been broken,
And my actions are a mere token,
I just need time.
You see my emotions are out of condition,
And working them again is a painful transition,
And that takes time.
Only the passage of night and day can mend a broken heart,
And when I am ready to make a brand-new start,
I’ll know its time.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Bee
The butterfly that floats silently by
Or the one that lands upon my shoulder
Are welcome things of nature fair,
But the bee— now that’s another story
Though no less wonderfully made
Than his graceful garden companion
He tempts me with combs of golden fare
Then punishes my reckless taste buds fling.
Admittedly he warns me away
Hovering around my head on buzzing wings
But let me get just a little taste of honey
And he rewards my crime with a nasty sting!
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Butterfly
The delicate appearance of a butterfly,
It’s flight a whimsical dance;
It’s colors a fine confusion of patterns,
Arrayed in configurations of beauty;
Floating so lightly on the air,
Like a feather almost too light to land.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Dreams
Loose thoughts
Fading fast
Too shallow
To last
Jumbled images
Like light beams
Cross the mind
In psychedelic dreams
Trying hard
To think
But consciousness
Begins to shrink
And fades away
Like light into
A black hole
The mind trapped
Inside the soul.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Winter of My Soul
In the winter of my soul
I watched the world turn day-by-day,
And though the Son was ever present
My heart was veiled in gray.
My countless sins had taken their toll
As Satan sought to draw my Spirit away,
Bitterly testing my weaknesses and resolve,
As he encouraged me my Master to betray.
That old serpent who made Adam lose control,
Who has drawn man down in every age along the way,
That roaring lion who sought to make of me his prey,
Found me sprinkled in the blood of Christ
In the springtime of my soul.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Clarity
The Thought
Without Clarity
Fails to Give
Conscious Charity.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Chaos
The Absurdity
Of each part;
The whole a
Perfect chaos.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Remember?
Remember when a quarter was real money
and Fifty cents would buy a comic and a coke?
Or, how our knees or elbows were always skinned-up,
From the toss and tumble of football or climbing some old oak.
As we grew older we played our music too loud,
And raced our cars at night on some empty two-lane.
We had football and baseball with proud parents in the stands,
And every contest we won or lost was a big game.
We thought the summers would last forever,
And time would always be on our side,
Then we went off to college or a job,
and one by one we all found that special someone,
And the little one by our side made us take a shorter stride,
then somewhere along the way we became the parents in the stands,
And in the blink of an eye grand-kids began to come one by one.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
April
I sat out under the stars last night,
Alone with my thoughts, among the rustling trees.
Low in the west the crescent moon was waning,
Its sliver of light marking the passing of April.
It has been an unusual month, with a late chill in its nightly breeze,
Still it is a starry, clear and beautiful night, this night,
Full of the anticipation that comes with Spring,
When the earth comes out of winter, its warmth regaining.
Here in the south this time of year is full of smiles and hope,
As we awaken to fields of green, and the songs that songbirds sing.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Walk Through the Park
Touching hands,
And looking into eyes of blue,
Walking through the park
On a spring evening,
Constantly awakening to life anew;
A gentle smile,
Full of love,
Your hair floats lightly
In the breeze,
Softer than a spring shower
From above;
Our hips
Brushing against each others
In romantic play,
The beauty of nature
Surrounding us,
Embracing each other,
Caught up in love's sway.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Clarity
The thought
Without Clarity
Fails to give
Conscious charity.
Roland W. Keith\
_____________________
Granny’s Garden
Over there is where Granny plants pumpkins on the vine,
And just yonder clusters of grape as dark as ruby wine.
Her garden boasts both red apples and apples green,
Sweet and tart delights our hands can’t wait to glean.
She has peaches to make cobbler, muffins and pies,
And pears fit for the preserves so many of you seem to prize.
More you can see just beyond her bounty-laden trees,
Rows and rows of squash, turnips and black-eyed peas.
Everything grows in its season, such as the leafy turnip greens,
And the crisp from the ground pods of Granny’s assorted beans.
So, if your diet of processed this and that has become indigestible,
Might I suggest a bushel basket of my Granny’s fresh fruits and vegetables?
Roland W. Keith
__________________________
Life
Eat
Breath
Work
Play
Sin
Pray
Laugh
Cry
Live
Die
Void
Light?
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Passing Strangers
Something in the eyes,
In the smile,
like a current
passed between us,
lasting the briefest while.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Writing A Poem
I decided to write a poem today,
although I really didn't have much to say;
And as I tried to think of what to write,
My imagination wouldn't cooperate and locked up tight;
The paper in front of me was blank and so was my mind,
I stared at the wall trying to get my brain out of this bind;
the wall didn't help much, and neither did the floor,
So I decided just to get up and walk out the door;
But about then and idea occurred to me,
And that's when I started writing the poem that you see.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Moments of Life
No day is longer than short,
They come, and blur, and are gone.
Irretrievable moments of life
Rushing past like a raging river.
Time for man is rare,
And too often wasted without thought,
The tide of the minutes plummet over
The edge into the churning froth of reality,
Drawing us under, rushing away
With our youth and dreams,
Life flowing on like a crooked river,
Until it opens into, and is lost
in the sea of eternity.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Bullfrogs
On the bayou the rains never seem to end
And the warm downfalls in April and May
Cover the starry nights in gray,
Beckoning the bullfrogs to ascend
In dark shadows all along the water's edge.
Low-lying mists cover their ranks,
While lazy breezes, warm and moist
Inspire the bulls to raise in voice
A dynamic chorus all along the banks,
Singing in degrees of both warnings and pledge.
In ever-forming and changing displays
There are duel calls to combat made plain,
Interwoven with a suitor's voice grown in refrain,
Each bull wooing a mate to the blaze
on sultry nights laying their promises among the sedge.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
An Elusive Dream
The search for love
remains an elusive dream,
Like a single wildflower
enveloped within a tangled thicket,
It catches the eye
but dwells just out of reach.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Morning Glory
The dream
Is a happy, jumbled
Sort of story,
Fading mistily,
It parts sadly
With morning-glory.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Decay
The season is past
For the flowers to bloom,
Their beauty fades at last
And settles into a shallow tomb.
They give their bounty to the earth
To nourish the seeds now in the womb,
Giving in decay the right of birth.
The final legacy of the living
is found in the silence of death,
Returning what the earth has given,
All that is needed to sustain life's breath
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Unshed Tear
There was a time when I could cry,
Now tears seem so useless,
My emotions have become calloused,
And this makes me less,
The world does not touch me as it once did,
And no longer do I invite it in,
To the place where I keep my caring hid,
A fortress I have built around my heart,
And I keep my feelings locked inside,
out of the sight of others,
In a chamber, along with mortal pride,
And if someone should besiege my soul,
Shining light into the darkness of my fear,
No treasure would they find in this place,
unless there is value in an unshed tear.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Wildflowers
Wildflowers, jeweled with early morning dew,
Hold their charms but a little while,
Then fade away like a delicate smile,
Unlike the eternal bloom of my love for you.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Whispering Image
I dream,
And breath life-
a whispering image,
Faint of death
by Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Cornfield
Running through the cornfield,
Shadows chasing after us,
Creatures of our minds,
Lurking among the stalks.
Beasts risen from tales of horror.
We scared ourselves for pleasure,
And then laughed and shouted at each other,
our hearts pounding with our feet,
And fear,
As we ran toward the road home.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Vision
As I talked-
The memory was regained -
But the words spoken -
Did no service to the vision.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Love's Reign
There's really nothing I can do,
There's nothing I can say,
No feelings to carry me,
As I go from day to day,
Frazzled memories of what it was
That attracted us to each other,
Before our eyes began to wander,
And our emotions began to smother,
If there were something to keep,
Or anything to gain,
Could we discover each other once more,
And live again under love's reign?
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Savior's Song
I stood alone, wrapped in the star-filled night,
Casting my eyes to heaven,
Searching each constellation for the Savior’s light.
My mind pondered this life in which I am bound,
And the majesty of creation encompassed round,
Days of beauty and joy, with eternities of tragedy and pain,
Not knowing which path has led me to the cross of my Savior slain?
I bowed beneath the canvass of the heavenly throng,
Casting down both pride and fear,
Remembering, this night, the death that restored my soul in Savior’s song.
Roland W. Keith
___________________________
Morning
Gold,
and orange,
and pearly gray.
They herald the approach
of the sun at the start
of the day.
Peeking over the horizon,
it's colors changing hue,
it chases shadows across the ground,
adding sparkle to the dew.
Soon the morning's glory
begins to fade,
as day overtakes the night,
the rainbow of fleeting colors
giving way to the day's
golden light.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Shaitan
Like Shaitan he sprang forth from purest womb,
Cursing at the world, with words born of primal sin,
His wild, dark eyes glinting with displeasure.
A feral seed planted in Providence’s ordered garden,
Now grown gnarling ‘round, and entangling staid men,
With twisted skull, and savage eyes hunting in wilding measure.
Beware the wolfen creature with heart in chested tomb,
With hidden mind wrapped round by the reaper’s shadow,
Seeking to devour flesh once pure, by slaying souls in cursed war.
A darkling spirit devoted to perdition’s master, despising Sacred pardon,
Whose once pure blood tainted with Satan’s ill, was turned black in wretched throe,
Infecting gentle minds with Evil’s nightmare gloom as torments in midnight lore.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Time
Time grows weary,
Clock on the wall,
Summertime fades,
leaves turn to fall,
the heartbeat weakens,
age finds a place,
bones become brittle,
youth loses face,
the universe expands,
stars flicker and die,
moving through space ,
time passes by.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Vision
In the vision I caught a glimmer,
a revelation soon grown dimmer,
A thought so perfect,
now too faint to remember
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Beauty
Sometimes beauty is born of love,
Rather than being a reason for attraction;
And it is the best kind of beauty,
Because it doesn't wrinkle or turn grey;
It has no reflection in the mirror,
So it is not vain;
It thinks more of others than of itself,
And like a precious gem it is rarely found,
And yet it exists within all of us.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
If Ever
If ever I should write of you,
And the words written live ere long,
Longer even than your flesh was true,
And your voice shared note in evening song,
I should not think of you as truly low,
Though my memory grows dim-hearted,
Thoughts of you still cast a shadow,
Across the agony of your love departed,
And ever shall our hearts be crossed,
As twilight stars in dream-filled nights,
Til the day my own faint breath is lost,
And we meet again among Valhalla's lights.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Heartbeat
I saw a man once, breathing without living,
With pallid skin and cold eyes,
Cold eyes frozen open without seeing;
His chest rose and fell, with lifeless rhythm,
In lifeless rhythm his heart still beat;
A woman sat beside him, breathing without living,
With pale skin and tender eyes;
Tender eyes half closed in pleading,
Her chest swelled and trembled, with painful rhythm,
In painful rhythm, her heart still beat
With tears in her eyes, she held his hand,
And she held his hand, even after the lifeless rhythm had stopped.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Maybe
Maybe could mean yes,
or it could mean no;
Maybe could mean I’m going to stay,
or it could mean I’d like to go;
Maybe means there is no clear reason,
everything is uncertain;
Maybe means there are options to be considered,
it is just a mental burden;
Maybe doesn’t mean I will,
and it doesn’t mean I won’t;
Maybe doesn’t mean I do,
and it doesn’t mean I don’t;
Maybe means my mind is confused,
and I need to review my choices;
Maybe means part of me is in torture,
while another part rejoices;
Maybe could mean yes,
or it could mean no;
Maybe could mean I’m just not certain,
or it could mean I just don’t know.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
To Dream
To sleep, and to dream:
Like a raging stream
The fantasies
Tumble together
Like pollen in the breeze
Ideas bloom, undulating
As the sun retires
Into the cool night
It's black canvass
Spattered with stars
And waning moonlight
The ocean underneath
Splashes and roils
With life beneath
Teeming like a mind
Full of images
Swimming to the surface
As the memory unwinds.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
A Dream
To catch a dream-
no hand can hold it-
ink on paper can display it-
but cannot feel what's in the soul.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Nature
If nature is without rhyme or reason,
How do flowers know to bloom in season?
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Your Love
Flowers are said to be natures greatest possession,
So, as flowers are to nature,
your love is to me,
My greatest obsession.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Journey
Life so short-
The soul restless to be gone,
It takes its leave
To reside in some ether zone,
In this plane
The soul finds peace and rest,
Preparing to journey on-
Continuing its eternal quest.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Man at the Piano
A story was written in every line of the face,
A life with an interesting history to trace.
The features were those of one who has survived the hardest of times,
But the eyes suggested a soul of great humor,
The culprit of many mischievous crimes.
His arms were stout, and his hands made tough,
From long hours of work both dirty and rough.
But now those hands danced across white keys,
As he played a song on the piano with accustomed ease.
He struck each cord with emotion and abandon,
and the sounds of the instrument lingered, even after the last note had been won.
Afterwards, he sat for a moment without noticing the applause of those who had been listening,
And as he turned to the room his smile was cheery and his eyes were bright and glistening,
And, as he crossed the floor to take his leave,
Our eyes met for a moment, and I saw something to make me believe
No matter what our destiny in this world, or how many storms we must pass through to arrive,
We can find a way to smile and realize its great just to be alive.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Desert
Sweet rain glistening
Under the desert skies,
Cool breeze whistling
under the desert moon,
Silent life bristling
Under the desert lies,
Ancient spirits listening
Under the desert dune.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Sums
Desert bones, sandblasted,
Dry and ashen;
Brittle death, long-lasted,
and forever in fashion.
No day is forever,
twilight always comes.
In darkness stands the Reaper,
toiling over the sums.
Roland W. Keith
Like a motionless tree in a calm,
A quiet moment can still the mind,
And render an occasion of thought so sublime
That a peace that must soon be resigned
May produce a reflection so deep, so prime
That it soothes the stormy mind and bids it becalm.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Days of Yore
Shortly after each day dawns,
The armies break slumber and rise,
To fight the battles of the day,
O’er land and seas and skies,
Though the sun never truly sets
On the war waged for evermore,
Where the forces of good and evil
Continue to clash as in the days of yore.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Lost at Sea
I have passed through life’s stormy sea,
Tossed about, batted and turned around.
The angry waves had churned me under, half-drowned,
Like countless other lost souls desperate and hell bound,
Until a mighty hand lifted me out of the debris,
When I called upon the Lord of the Sea to rescue me.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Thanksgiving
I give thanks for those that I love,
For everyone around our table, or away--
Who could not be here this Thanksgiving Day.
And, I remember those I can no longer embrace,
Whose Thanksgivings are now shared above;
I look to my left and think that was his place,
To the right I still see the smile wrinkling her face,
Silently, I thank the Lord for every single one,
Then end my reverie by thanking God for His Son.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
A Simple Prayer
Lord, please help me to be,
A stronger being, and still be me.
I only want to be a man of sharing,
True to Your word and caring,
Full of love for every man and Thee.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Love’s Cost
Days of happiness
Are far between
The times of loneliness,
Which keep the heart lean
And, through the minds distress
Is revealed a bittersweet scene
Of all the loved one’s lost
And the joyful pain that is love’s cost.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Under the Sun
I asked the reaper to pass me by,
As a matter of convenience.
“Today,” I said, “is not a good day to die.
Surely you can exercise some lenience?
With so many projects left unfinished
Time must surely be allowed,
To ensure all my plans are finished
Before they prepare my burial shroud.
I do not ask to live forever
(at least not upon this earth),
I’m merely concerned for my latest endeavor,
And the legacy of my life’s worth.”
To which the reaper simply replied,
“Men always leave things undone,
Yet, in the end in death they must abide,
Judged not by what was left undone,
But how they lived under the sun.”
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Between Heaven and Hell
What, I ask, is sadder than the nervous smile
Of one who laughs at death?
Whose thoughts or feelings unchecked put faith on trial,
And suspends hope’s breath.
There are a thousand, maybe a million ways to die,
But only one way to lose, or forfeit, your soul.
In the world between heaven and hell we find our ally,
And plot a path to Abraham’s bosom, or the other side of Sheol.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Pickin’ Cotton
I remember the days when I walked to the field along a dusty road,
In late October, just a youngster toting a cotton sack.
Across the field were a dozen or so laborers with backs bowed,
Bent over the cotton stalks, occasionally lifting their load to fill in the slack.
Some worked fast and some worked slow, though we were paid by the pound;
From one end of the field to the other, in the crisp days of Fall,
We worked the fields bole-by-bole, round-by-round,
Hanging each full sack on the scales to weigh-in the haul,
The lonely wind filled with the sounds of a transistor radio’s tinny song,
And the distant voices of other pickers as they drug their sacks along.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Wisdom
One small thought tumbled through my brain
Fraught with misgivings born of natural refrain,
Yet my mind sought ancient wisdom’s fain,
Naught of worldly mean, but heaven’s wisdom to attain.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
A Rainy Day
One weary day not so long ago
An old man with an umbrella came out of the grocery.
He was carrying one small bag, held low,
His body bowed over it as if from the weight of it.
As the rain beat down he walked across the crowded parking lot
Where an impatient driver sped ‘round him washing water
Over his shuffling feet without so much as a backward glance or thought,
Yet the old man seemed to take no notice or even care.
Soon a younger man drew near him, one ever so slow the other ever so fast,
And as they started to pass the old man raised his umbrella slightly
And with a smile said, “Love this rain, don’t’ you? As they passed,
Whereupon the younger man merely nodded and hurried on.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Memories
In quiet moments memories of her came on him like some sort of madness,
Not creeping thoughts or jumbled images, just faded memories wrapped in sadness.
She was so long ago he couldn’t even say that the woman he remembered was real;
Mostly he remembered her smell and how the sadness in her eyes made him feel.
In those moments he supposed there was nothing so true or untrue as memories of love lost;
The faded thoughts of a time when dreams and passion were drawn together and two hearts were briefly crossed.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Ark
All the animals gathered as if on que,
As the storm clouds gathered.
They walked or slithered or flew,
The scaly hided, the furry and the feathered.
They came to Noah as appointed,
whether two by two, or by seven.
All those that God had anointed
Heeded the call from heaven.
All chosen to represent their kind,
And Escape the fate to which others were resigned.
They were cast upon the waters awaiting rebirth,
into a world where all was again made new upon the earth.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Thoughts
Thoughts hang in the mind
Like apples on a tree,
Waiting to be picked.
Fruit of the sweetest kind,
Ripe and ready conceptions,
Fit to be made into reality.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Last Repose
Though he had grown old,
And was not at all well in the end,
It was still quite a shock, and sad when he was gone.
And, His death, as all deaths, left so much to attend;
There’s no avoiding it— when one heart stops the world moves on.
At his viewing I felt nothing of the man I knew,
And thought death, as a business, is sad and cold,
As cold as the body that reposes in silence.
However, the day he was laid to rest was blue and fair,
Perhaps a token of good fortune, or the Reaper’s pilonce,
It gave hope that his eternal breath was in sacred air,
And that his life everlasting will be in paradise true.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
The Crown
The rich man died the same as the poor man.
One was buried in rocky ground,
And the other was laid in a mausoleum carved in grandeur.
But to which one belongs the crown?
They honored the rich man with a public eulogy.
The ragged man was lowered into the earth without renown,
Even as the fine man was being praised for his generous philanthropy.
But to which one belongs the crown?
For all his generosity the rich man was haughty and self-possessed.
In life the poor man had humbly knelt under the heavens as if broken down,
As the wealthy man had looked down on the world from atop his lofty crest.
So to which one belongs the crown?
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Ancestors
The cemetery is full of moss grown stones
With dates and times and names left forgotten.
They stand over decayed boxes full of the bones
Of a generation of hopeful men once begotten.
We read of their sailing ships that on gales and sea waves rose,
And how the children of their children came to be here.
We study artifacts and gaze at the stone faces of their heroes,
But who can tell the story of one common man to draw us near?
I look at an aged headstone no longer legible and wonder,
When I am lowered into the fresh earth to slumber alone
Who will ponder my grave and consider the bones there under,
Yeah, in passing years who will remember the man beneath my stone?
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Child's Play
Skip,
Hop,
It's just child's play.
A sharp tongue
leads to
A push,
A shove,
And Pain.
This is serious business.
Play life's game.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Infidelity
You say to me quietly something,
Well it is, but nothing.
Turning truth into profanity,
Prostituted by your vanity.
You cannot hide the lies,
I see in the falter of your eyes.
Better it would have been
In absentia with a pen
Than to have to see your face
When you honor me with disgrace.
It is not “just a mistake”
That causes this kind of heartache.
Can a few hours of stolen lust
Be worth the price of faith and trust?
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Eagle’s Prey
Up toward the treetop,
On powerful wings ascending now rapidly without stop;
Rising ever higher, far above the ground,
Soaring, spiraling, then a meteoric descent without a sound,
Plunging, claws grasping into the bay,
Then mighty wings carrying upward with food for the day.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Dream
The Dream lingers in the morning silence,
As moments of time unfold in a surreal fashion.
Images of life momentarily more vivid than reality--
Stronger of expression, more creative and full of passion.
If only the days were made of dreams,
And the life we live was the mind’s conception.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Those Were the Days
Those were the days,
Those were the days!
When our heads were full of dreams,
And our hearts were free
to experience the pain of first love's plea,
And all was carried away in life's streams.
Then came the days
When we cast out into the world
And all our dreams faded or became reality,
As our life views became jaded, save for love's lee,
And every stand for truth became a flag unfurled.
Now are the days,
Now are the days,
When we look back with pride and regret,
Our grey heads packed with a life lived near full,
Knowing we must leave loved ones behind by nature's rule,
Hoping to be remembered only for the good we beget.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Drugs
Pills and sirens
A furious pounding
And breath
One, two, three, four
Pounding
And breath
One, two, three, four
Then cough and a sigh
A Life almost wasted
Why?
To live in an artificial reality.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Give Me Time
If my heart seems a little rusty,
and my affection stale and dusty,
Give me time.
For my heart has once been broken,
And my actions are a mere token,
I just need time.
You see my emotions are out of condition,
And working them again is a painful transition,
And that takes time.
Only the passage of night and day can mend a broken heart,
And when I am ready to make a brand-new start,
I’ll know its time.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Bee
The butterfly that floats silently by
Or the one that lands upon my shoulder
Are welcome things of nature fair,
But the bee— now that’s another story
Though no less wonderfully made
Than his graceful garden companion
He tempts me with combs of golden fare
Then punishes my reckless taste buds fling.
Admittedly he warns me away
Hovering around my head on buzzing wings
But let me get just a little taste of honey
And he rewards my crime with a nasty sting!
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Butterfly
The delicate appearance of a butterfly,
It’s flight a whimsical dance;
It’s colors a fine confusion of patterns,
Arrayed in configurations of beauty;
Floating so lightly on the air,
Like a feather almost too light to land.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Dreams
Loose thoughts
Fading fast
Too shallow
To last
Jumbled images
Like light beams
Cross the mind
In psychedelic dreams
Trying hard
To think
But consciousness
Begins to shrink
And fades away
Like light into
A black hole
The mind trapped
Inside the soul.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
The Winter of My Soul
In the winter of my soul
I watched the world turn day-by-day,
And though the Son was ever present
My heart was veiled in gray.
My countless sins had taken their toll
As Satan sought to draw my Spirit away,
Bitterly testing my weaknesses and resolve,
As he encouraged me my Master to betray.
That old serpent who made Adam lose control,
Who has drawn man down in every age along the way,
That roaring lion who sought to make of me his prey,
Found me sprinkled in the blood of Christ
In the springtime of my soul.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Clarity
The Thought
Without Clarity
Fails to Give
Conscious Charity.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Chaos
The Absurdity
Of each part;
The whole a
Perfect chaos.
Roland W. Keith
____________________
Remember?
Remember when a quarter was real money
and Fifty cents would buy a comic and a coke?
Or, how our knees or elbows were always skinned-up,
From the toss and tumble of football or climbing some old oak.
As we grew older we played our music too loud,
And raced our cars at night on some empty two-lane.
We had football and baseball with proud parents in the stands,
And every contest we won or lost was a big game.
We thought the summers would last forever,
And time would always be on our side,
Then we went off to college or a job,
and one by one we all found that special someone,
And the little one by our side made us take a shorter stride,
then somewhere along the way we became the parents in the stands,
And in the blink of an eye grand-kids began to come one by one.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
April
I sat out under the stars last night,
Alone with my thoughts, among the rustling trees.
Low in the west the crescent moon was waning,
Its sliver of light marking the passing of April.
It has been an unusual month, with a late chill in its nightly breeze,
Still it is a starry, clear and beautiful night, this night,
Full of the anticipation that comes with Spring,
When the earth comes out of winter, its warmth regaining.
Here in the south this time of year is full of smiles and hope,
As we awaken to fields of green, and the songs that songbirds sing.
Roland W. Keith
___________________
Walk Through the Park
Touching hands,
And looking into eyes of blue,
Walking through the park
On a spring evening,
Constantly awakening to life anew;
A gentle smile,
Full of love,
Your hair floats lightly
In the breeze,
Softer than a spring shower
From above;
Our hips
Brushing against each others
In romantic play,
The beauty of nature
Surrounding us,
Embracing each other,
Caught up in love's sway.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Clarity
The thought
Without Clarity
Fails to give
Conscious charity.
Roland W. Keith\
_____________________
Granny’s Garden
Over there is where Granny plants pumpkins on the vine,
And just yonder clusters of grape as dark as ruby wine.
Her garden boasts both red apples and apples green,
Sweet and tart delights our hands can’t wait to glean.
She has peaches to make cobbler, muffins and pies,
And pears fit for the preserves so many of you seem to prize.
More you can see just beyond her bounty-laden trees,
Rows and rows of squash, turnips and black-eyed peas.
Everything grows in its season, such as the leafy turnip greens,
And the crisp from the ground pods of Granny’s assorted beans.
So, if your diet of processed this and that has become indigestible,
Might I suggest a bushel basket of my Granny’s fresh fruits and vegetables?
Roland W. Keith
__________________________
Life
Eat
Breath
Work
Play
Sin
Pray
Laugh
Cry
Live
Die
Void
Light?
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Passing Strangers
Something in the eyes,
In the smile,
like a current
passed between us,
lasting the briefest while.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Writing A Poem
I decided to write a poem today,
although I really didn't have much to say;
And as I tried to think of what to write,
My imagination wouldn't cooperate and locked up tight;
The paper in front of me was blank and so was my mind,
I stared at the wall trying to get my brain out of this bind;
the wall didn't help much, and neither did the floor,
So I decided just to get up and walk out the door;
But about then and idea occurred to me,
And that's when I started writing the poem that you see.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Moments of Life
No day is longer than short,
They come, and blur, and are gone.
Irretrievable moments of life
Rushing past like a raging river.
Time for man is rare,
And too often wasted without thought,
The tide of the minutes plummet over
The edge into the churning froth of reality,
Drawing us under, rushing away
With our youth and dreams,
Life flowing on like a crooked river,
Until it opens into, and is lost
in the sea of eternity.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Bullfrogs
On the bayou the rains never seem to end
And the warm downfalls in April and May
Cover the starry nights in gray,
Beckoning the bullfrogs to ascend
In dark shadows all along the water's edge.
Low-lying mists cover their ranks,
While lazy breezes, warm and moist
Inspire the bulls to raise in voice
A dynamic chorus all along the banks,
Singing in degrees of both warnings and pledge.
In ever-forming and changing displays
There are duel calls to combat made plain,
Interwoven with a suitor's voice grown in refrain,
Each bull wooing a mate to the blaze
on sultry nights laying their promises among the sedge.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
An Elusive Dream
The search for love
remains an elusive dream,
Like a single wildflower
enveloped within a tangled thicket,
It catches the eye
but dwells just out of reach.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Morning Glory
The dream
Is a happy, jumbled
Sort of story,
Fading mistily,
It parts sadly
With morning-glory.
Roland W. Keith
_____________________
Decay
The season is past
For the flowers to bloom,
Their beauty fades at last
And settles into a shallow tomb.
They give their bounty to the earth
To nourish the seeds now in the womb,
Giving in decay the right of birth.
The final legacy of the living
is found in the silence of death,
Returning what the earth has given,
All that is needed to sustain life's breath
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Unshed Tear
There was a time when I could cry,
Now tears seem so useless,
My emotions have become calloused,
And this makes me less,
The world does not touch me as it once did,
And no longer do I invite it in,
To the place where I keep my caring hid,
A fortress I have built around my heart,
And I keep my feelings locked inside,
out of the sight of others,
In a chamber, along with mortal pride,
And if someone should besiege my soul,
Shining light into the darkness of my fear,
No treasure would they find in this place,
unless there is value in an unshed tear.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Wildflowers
Wildflowers, jeweled with early morning dew,
Hold their charms but a little while,
Then fade away like a delicate smile,
Unlike the eternal bloom of my love for you.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Whispering Image
I dream,
And breath life-
a whispering image,
Faint of death
by Roland W. Keith
_______________________
The Cornfield
Running through the cornfield,
Shadows chasing after us,
Creatures of our minds,
Lurking among the stalks.
Beasts risen from tales of horror.
We scared ourselves for pleasure,
And then laughed and shouted at each other,
our hearts pounding with our feet,
And fear,
As we ran toward the road home.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Vision
As I talked-
The memory was regained -
But the words spoken -
Did no service to the vision.
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Love's Reign
There's really nothing I can do,
There's nothing I can say,
No feelings to carry me,
As I go from day to day,
Frazzled memories of what it was
That attracted us to each other,
Before our eyes began to wander,
And our emotions began to smother,
If there were something to keep,
Or anything to gain,
Could we discover each other once more,
And live again under love's reign?
Roland W. Keith
______________________
Savior's Song
I stood alone, wrapped in the star-filled night,
Casting my eyes to heaven,
Searching each constellation for the Savior’s light.
My mind pondered this life in which I am bound,
And the majesty of creation encompassed round,
Days of beauty and joy, with eternities of tragedy and pain,
Not knowing which path has led me to the cross of my Savior slain?
I bowed beneath the canvass of the heavenly throng,
Casting down both pride and fear,
Remembering, this night, the death that restored my soul in Savior’s song.
Roland W. Keith
___________________________
Morning
Gold,
and orange,
and pearly gray.
They herald the approach
of the sun at the start
of the day.
Peeking over the horizon,
it's colors changing hue,
it chases shadows across the ground,
adding sparkle to the dew.
Soon the morning's glory
begins to fade,
as day overtakes the night,
the rainbow of fleeting colors
giving way to the day's
golden light.
Roland W. Keith
_______________________
Shaitan
Like Shaitan he sprang forth from purest womb,
Cursing at the world, with words born of primal sin,
His wild, dark eyes glinting with displeasure.
A feral seed planted in Providence’s ordered garden,
Now grown gnarling ‘round, and entangling staid men,
With twisted skull, and savage eyes hunting in wilding measure.
Beware the wolfen creature with heart in chested tomb,
With hidden mind wrapped round by the reaper’s shadow,
Seeking to devour flesh once pure, by slaying souls in cursed war.
A darkling spirit devoted to perdition’s master, despising Sacred pardon,
Whose once pure blood tainted with Satan’s ill, was turned black in wretched throe,
Infecting gentle minds with Evil’s nightmare gloom as torments in midnight lore.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Time
Time grows weary,
Clock on the wall,
Summertime fades,
leaves turn to fall,
the heartbeat weakens,
age finds a place,
bones become brittle,
youth loses face,
the universe expands,
stars flicker and die,
moving through space ,
time passes by.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Vision
In the vision I caught a glimmer,
a revelation soon grown dimmer,
A thought so perfect,
now too faint to remember
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Beauty
Sometimes beauty is born of love,
Rather than being a reason for attraction;
And it is the best kind of beauty,
Because it doesn't wrinkle or turn grey;
It has no reflection in the mirror,
So it is not vain;
It thinks more of others than of itself,
And like a precious gem it is rarely found,
And yet it exists within all of us.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
If Ever
If ever I should write of you,
And the words written live ere long,
Longer even than your flesh was true,
And your voice shared note in evening song,
I should not think of you as truly low,
Though my memory grows dim-hearted,
Thoughts of you still cast a shadow,
Across the agony of your love departed,
And ever shall our hearts be crossed,
As twilight stars in dream-filled nights,
Til the day my own faint breath is lost,
And we meet again among Valhalla's lights.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Heartbeat
I saw a man once, breathing without living,
With pallid skin and cold eyes,
Cold eyes frozen open without seeing;
His chest rose and fell, with lifeless rhythm,
In lifeless rhythm his heart still beat;
A woman sat beside him, breathing without living,
With pale skin and tender eyes;
Tender eyes half closed in pleading,
Her chest swelled and trembled, with painful rhythm,
In painful rhythm, her heart still beat
With tears in her eyes, she held his hand,
And she held his hand, even after the lifeless rhythm had stopped.
Roland W. Keith
________________________
Maybe
Maybe could mean yes,
or it could mean no;
Maybe could mean I’m going to stay,
or it could mean I’d like to go;
Maybe means there is no clear reason,
everything is uncertain;
Maybe means there are options to be considered,
it is just a mental burden;
Maybe doesn’t mean I will,
and it doesn’t mean I won’t;
Maybe doesn’t mean I do,
and it doesn’t mean I don’t;
Maybe means my mind is confused,
and I need to review my choices;
Maybe means part of me is in torture,
while another part rejoices;
Maybe could mean yes,
or it could mean no;
Maybe could mean I’m just not certain,
or it could mean I just don’t know.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
To Dream
To sleep, and to dream:
Like a raging stream
The fantasies
Tumble together
Like pollen in the breeze
Ideas bloom, undulating
As the sun retires
Into the cool night
It's black canvass
Spattered with stars
And waning moonlight
The ocean underneath
Splashes and roils
With life beneath
Teeming like a mind
Full of images
Swimming to the surface
As the memory unwinds.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
A Dream
To catch a dream-
no hand can hold it-
ink on paper can display it-
but cannot feel what's in the soul.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Nature
If nature is without rhyme or reason,
How do flowers know to bloom in season?
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Your Love
Flowers are said to be natures greatest possession,
So, as flowers are to nature,
your love is to me,
My greatest obsession.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
Journey
Life so short-
The soul restless to be gone,
It takes its leave
To reside in some ether zone,
In this plane
The soul finds peace and rest,
Preparing to journey on-
Continuing its eternal quest.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Man at the Piano
A story was written in every line of the face,
A life with an interesting history to trace.
The features were those of one who has survived the hardest of times,
But the eyes suggested a soul of great humor,
The culprit of many mischievous crimes.
His arms were stout, and his hands made tough,
From long hours of work both dirty and rough.
But now those hands danced across white keys,
As he played a song on the piano with accustomed ease.
He struck each cord with emotion and abandon,
and the sounds of the instrument lingered, even after the last note had been won.
Afterwards, he sat for a moment without noticing the applause of those who had been listening,
And as he turned to the room his smile was cheery and his eyes were bright and glistening,
And, as he crossed the floor to take his leave,
Our eyes met for a moment, and I saw something to make me believe
No matter what our destiny in this world, or how many storms we must pass through to arrive,
We can find a way to smile and realize its great just to be alive.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Desert
Sweet rain glistening
Under the desert skies,
Cool breeze whistling
under the desert moon,
Silent life bristling
Under the desert lies,
Ancient spirits listening
Under the desert dune.
Roland W. Keith
_________________________
The Sums
Desert bones, sandblasted,
Dry and ashen;
Brittle death, long-lasted,
and forever in fashion.
No day is forever,
twilight always comes.
In darkness stands the Reaper,
toiling over the sums.
Roland W. Keith