In Moving Pictures
by Michael Doyle

Drawing on our life's experience
There are characters of preference.
They serve as molds of imagination.
So much of life is pure improvisation.

The charm that got us by
As we hustled to give life our try.
The shots of the frame-by-frame
Are the shots that became our game.

Moving pictures tell the story.
Inch by inch these grasp for glory.
We were sixteen and knew each other.
Our hearts were as close if we were brothers.

Lights out on the night of Brooklyn.
Knights rode into the lights of our sins.
These were the heroes in our own minds.
Bullets flew to leave some of us behind.

The cinematic magic replicated life
As swift as we thought, like a switchblade knife.
There's so much that we did that it's okay.
Who knew if we'd have it any other way.

The fashion of truth is mere dalliance,
Fifty years out it might pass as brilliance.
We drank from the well of the divine spark.
Then we struggled to separate light from dark.

Always pushing forward for something more.
Blow by blow, we learned to even the score.
Along the way, friendship saw us through.
I suppose it still does in everything we do.

The push through can feel like sheer brutality
As life is lived with true humility.
Every step taken is one that is real.
It doesn't matter how we think it's supposed to feel.

Life and love is all about the chemistry.
To be unafraid is to live our truest artistry.
Experiments in experience of the go between,
It's the visceral that is lived as if it is real.

It's the deep dive that is felt as if known.
It's the along the way that reveals how we've grown.
Day to day, life lived hits each of differently.
It becomes our spirituality to be lived reverently.

(c) June 24, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved