A Republic To Be Kept
by Michael Doyle

Start then as it were with a name
What we will call out as information
Then like chess parts to the game
We provide definition in affirmation

What does this take in its inflection
To voice what it is that we can see
However fuzzy in its faint reflection
Of an image of an object made reality

From this is gained knowledge on the way
To the peak of wisdom we hope to attain
It is the divine geometry needy in our day
If it is a glimpse at truth we wish to gain

Think before you enter into the tyrant's door
Would it make freemen into slaves once more
What then is the consequences summed in price
To join conspiracy as if it were chosen voice

Locked like a bird inside its gilded cage
Taken in by a deception that can only deform
With the signed name of dignity on a page
Coal, under great pressure, becomes diamond conformed

It comes as a price to a man's reputation
These blemishes of truth better known as lies
Forced hands are hard to show in winter's disputation
Power corrupts absolutely and without surprise

Only the law can be a just ruler of any nation
The rule of law tempered by mercy in explanation
Peace, prosperity, and justice under a constitution
That is the spirit of America's republic in explanation

Fifty five men crafted together in shrouded convention
A new nation as proof of Plato's republican invention
Given that generation after generation in justice to achieve
If only if we stick by what it is we've chosen to believe

(c) February 5, 2022   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved