“The artist must yield himself to his own inspiration, and if he has a true talent, no one knows and feels better than he what suits him.” – Giuseppe Verdi
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Thought For the Day: The Artist Must Yield Himself To His Own Inspiration, and If He Has True Talent, No One Knows and Feels Better Than He What Suits Him
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Artist, Feel, Giuseppe Verdi, Inspiration, Knowledge, Suitable, Talent, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: Those People Who Treat Politics and Morality Separately Will Never Understand Either of Them
“Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principles, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Morality, Politics, Separation, Understand
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No Better Than This
No Better Than This
by Michael Doyle
The warrior culture has its code.
It gives respect as it is owed.
Cobra wine is part of that culture.
What doesn't kill you is bound to nurture.
The misperception of too much laxity
Is meant to foster creativity.
It's all well and good to be by the book.
But opportunities and success have to do with a look.
Aces and Eights, the Deadman's Hand,
However it is played to understand -
Everyone knows the stench of fate.
It's to be known before it's too late.
There's plenty to fear with fire.
The contender knows and won't tire.
Time might force drinking alone,
But the call won't come on the phone.
It's another kind of matter to go through motions,
Hard-pressed and caught by complex emotions.
Sometimes a child of light is caught by darkness
When all he knows is a world filled with harshness.
Aces and Eights, the Deadman's Hand,
However it is played to understand -
Everyone knows the stench of fate.
It's to be known before it's too late.
When your losing hand isn't worth a bet,
You play it still without any regret.
You falter, they say to get it straight
Until you drive another road that just won't wait.
Life in the pursuit of evil's elimination
Is the top-flight, jet-lagged intimidation.
You stare into tomorrow's abyss
Until you realize it gets no better than this.
Aces and Eights, the Deadman's Hand,
However it is played to understand -
Everyone knows the stench of fate.
It's to be known before it's too late.
(c) October 9, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Aces and Eights, Better, Cobra Wine, Code, Creativity, Fate, Nurture, Poetry and Poems, Respect, The Deadman's Hand, Warrior Culture
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Thought For the Day: Being Honest May Not Get You A Lot of Friends, But It’ll Always Get You the Right Ones
“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it’ll always get you the right ones.” – John Lennon
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Tagged Friends, Honest, John Lennon, Right Ones, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: A Democracy Is No More Than an Aristocracy of Orators. The People Are So Readily Moved By Demagogues That Control Must Be Exercised By the Government Over Speech and Press
“A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be exercised by the government over speech and press.” – Thomas Hobbes
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Aristrocracy, Control, Demagogues, Democracy, Exercise, First Princiiplles, Government, Orators, Press, Speech, The People, Thomas Hobbes
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Every Dog Hunts
Every Dog Hunts
by Michael Doyle
There are a lot of lessons we learn
Walking through fire, hoping not to burn.
There is much that we presume
In training so that we will not be consumed.
There are times that all there is, is the space.
It's there in the concept of God's lost grace.
Where once there was a strong connection,
Too much hurt changes that tragic conception.
In a world where every dog hunts,
You learn that you only die once.
When wheels are often up by seven,
The odds are that you'll go through Hell to find Heaven.
We walk the space where children hopelessly scream,
And the souls of lost nations can no longer dream.
Searching, hoping, grabbing ahold of that something
That just might make sense of this bitter nothing.
We talk amongst ourselves about battlefield theology
And we hope that it is real and not just mythology.
All the sacrifices made half a very real sense of cost.
Clinging in belief, we hope not all has been lost.
In a world where every dog hunts,
You learn that you only die once.
When wheels are often up by seven,
The odds are that you'll go through Hell to find Heaven.
Feeling fully alive and full of old glory,
We bought into the best of the story.
Those present manage to steal the spotlight
Even when it happens that it's not told quite right.
The are somehow missed as they feign and say,
Now that they have stopped coming along the way.
IED attacks act to reduce our company's number,
And tell the truths about how evil doesn't slumber.
In a world where every dog hunts,
You learn that you only die once.
When wheels are often up by seven,
The odds are that you'll go through Hell to find Heaven.
Time and time again, it turns in the play
That the only easy day is always yesterday.
The rules of engagement remain the hardfast rule,
Coming back against the odds remains old school.
With a snake and creep, we find the out.
A sniper's scope removes the margin of doubt.
Safe in/safe out exists only in the officer's plan.
The best we can hope is to come back with every man.
In a world where every dog hunts,
You learn that you only die once.
When wheels are often up by seven,
The odds are that you'll go through Hell to find Heaven.
(c) October 8, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Burn, Change, Connection, Death, Every Dog, Fire, God, Grace, Hunt, Lesson, Odds, Poetry and Poems, Presumption, Space, Train, Wheels Up, World
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Thought For the Day: The Clearest Way Into the Universe Is Through A Forest Wilderness
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” – John Muir
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Clarity, Forest, John Muir, Thought For the Day, Universe, Way, Wilderness
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First Principles: Crimes Increase As Education, Opportunity, and Property Decrease. Whatever Spreads Ignorance, Poverty, and Discontent Causes Crime
“Crimes increase as education, opportunity, and property decrease. Whatever spreads ignorance, poverty and, discontent causes crime…. Criminals have their own responsibility, their own share of guilt, but they are merely the hand…. Whoever interferes with equal rights and equal opportunities is in some real degree, responsible for the crimes committed in the community. – Rutherford B. Hayes
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Crime, Decrease, Education, First Pirinciples, Increase, Opportunity, Property, Resp;onsibility, Rutherford B. Hayes
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Lizzy Borden III: Seduced By Blood, It Begins
Lizzy Borden III: Seduced By Blood, It Begins
by Michael Doyle
"Dandelion tea helps with the clotting,"
Said the maid to Lizzy, pleasantly nodding.
The phenomena of Victorian senauality
Overcomes the shame of banality.
As it were in this 'Little Death',
A death that leaves the maiden out of breath.
There is a pursuit in feeling the good
At least when it's wantonly misunderstood.
Life and death have beauty and cruelty.
The best that one can do is face it with humility.
We do what we can to keep quietly survive.
Even when it leaves us more dead than alive.
To escape the torment and the gloom,
Our troubles are locked away in a room.
As if this could ever do away
With all the misses of heat that creeps into our day.
The need is read to be finally done.
It is power and pathology to the bone.
It is a solution to the wages of sin,
Open in to interpretation over and again.
This then is the way of Elizabetha the Vampire,
Who was enamored with beauty that would not expire.
She sought out ways to keep within her youth,
And walked away further from God's holy truth.
Soon milk was not enough for satisfaction,
Elizabetha begged the proof of attention,
So she aseked the maidens to heed the call.
Heartless beuty led to the passion of her fall.
There came a feast of beauty's celebration,
The truth of this was a bloodlust jubilation.
All to bathe Elizabetha in a bath of blood
That became as filthy as Satan's hellish mud.
They say that remission doesn't heed this world' strife,
The blood of virgins is the source of cursed life.
The truth is that blood becomes its own power,
There in the glow of the twilight's witching hour.
Maidens imbibe in a bath of cherry blossoms
As they dare to bare each other's bossoms.
Too lurid to become lovers to one another,
They comply with the darkness with each other.
(c) October 7, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Blood, Death, Little Death, Lizzy Borden, Maiden, Poetry and Poems, Seduction, Sensuality, Victorian Age
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Thought For the Day: A Lie Travels Round the World While Truth Is Putting Her Boots On
“A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.” – Edgar Allen Poe
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Boots, Edgar Allen Poe, Lie, Thought For the Day:, Travel, Truth, World
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