The Truth About Power
by Michael Doyle

The edges of rationality tatter
While the People determine what matters.
If there is one thing needed to learned,
It's the limits of power properly discerned.

When a jaded politician wants to steal the hour,
Maybe it's best to show the strength in yielding power.
It's a lesson  hard learned in our capital -  Washington
But a singularity that will remove the oxygen

From a group of congressmen stuck in their agitation
About this or that bill without much of an explanation.
In politics, it is seen as weakness, even foul-edged taint,
To take the moment necessary to understand another's complaint.

Civic stewardship is displayed and put to its best test,
As a quiet giant kneels and serenely lays a wreath to rest
There with the other honors given to Washington's grave.
And a nation weeps, wondering what it will take to save

Good man, bad man, the morning light is watching over me.
While I embrace balance and take up the cause of liberty.
It comes down to the noble ideal of voluntary restraint
In this nation, our politics are not meant for the faint.

But instead, for those who would be greater than their sum
By giving the power they might seize in favor of none.
In a nation that denounces kings while warring for power,
Perhaps it is time to notice that power trends toward sour.

The more you give away, what you might easily take,
The more you shore up the power that will never break.
In strong winds, it is better to bend like a willow 
Then it is to stand firm like an oak, broken to half its shadow.

(c) July 7, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved