The Thick of the Thin

The Thick of the Thin
by Michael Doyle

Whispered rumor has it
That we're the thick of the thin
If you were in Hell
I'd come barreling in

Founded on trust and loyalty
This is what makes us a family
My soul is resolved in this decision
Yours is the lasting trace of my vision

Ours is the strength of never falling
As we breathe into each other's calling
We are stronger in our broken places
As healing fills in our loving traces

Hardships can grow hearts somehow more tender
But we have the strength to never surrender
Struggles develop into tensile strength
To last through the longest day's length

Silence is the voice of the true friend
Who knows the damage but will stay to the end
Silence is the voice that will never betray
The holding of hands when there is no more to say

I breathe that honesty deep in your eyes
Knowing your integrity is never to my surprise
And if we must face hard times, I will cover you
Standing in front to take the worst, as true friends do

A respectful loyalty is given to my dying breath
And I will keep loving you unto the other side of death
This is my commitment to build our living trust
And I give this to you willingly, as I know that I must

(c) March 5, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: Without Continual Growth and Progress, Such Words As Improvement, Achievement, and Success Have No Meaning

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

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Thought For the Day: Success Is the Sum of Small Efforts, Repeated Day In and Day Out

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

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Oneshotted Into Nihilism

Oneshotted Into Nihilism
by Michael Doyle

It's no longer pay-to-play but pay-to-win
With a milkshake duck, where do we begin
Mutating in iterative references made more visible
Social media has mostly made us all more miserable

Words rise from the internet's tepid muck
Claiming glory and defamation as a matter of luck
Oneshotted to be made or destroyed in deference
All with the influence of what is a single experience

There is something lost within the irreducible complexity
Comments in passing gigafry the world into simplicity
With one wrong choice of words that might be said
A person's universe is remade into happiness or dread

Chemically charged into the new norm of seeking solutions
Is not a methodology of mindfulness but of changing attribution
Of the filters and perceptions by which they choose to see
Hallucinogens erase the thin line of potential for creativity

Putting on pretenses of coolness makes us anything but cool
Using words we don't understand is the same as elementary school
When we all learned to sound older by being rough enough to cuss
Rather than getting our acts together to learn how to discuss

There is something lost within the irreducible complexity
Comments in passing gigafry the world into simplicity
With one wrong choice of words that might be said
A person's universe is remade into happiness or dread

The destruction of one's soul or mind is not transcendence
No matter how it might seem illustrative there is no resplendence
A thousand repetitive posts only brings about accretion
Not deeper understanding or the utility of needed discretion

No matter how much minds shift through the internet's dross
The total sum of this equation is still for most more of a loss
Screen addiction does not renew an original ephemerality 
Long term scrolling is an episodic method of losing our mentality

There is something lost within the irreducible complexity
Comments in passing gigafry the world into simplicity
With one wrong choice of words that might be said
A person's universe is remade into happiness or dread

(c) March 4, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: Geography Has Made Us Neighbors. History Has Made Us Friends. Economics Has Made Us Partners, and Necessity Has Made Us All. Those Whom God Has So Joined Together, Let No Man Put Asunder

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.” – John F. Kennedy

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Thought For the Day: We Cannot Always Assure the Future of Our Friends; We Have A Better Chance of Assuring Our Future If We Remember Who Our Friends Are

“We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are.” – Henry A. Kissinger

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Truths Inside A Marsh

Truths Inside A Marsh
by Michael Doyle

The watershed exists as a space of light
That becomes evermore magical at night
As water evaporates into the sky
We sit here watching as the egrets fly

In true swampy marsh, the herons nest
They fly there at night as they come to rest
Here is the home where the crawdads sing
And every mystery is found to bring

When you're in trouble, hide.
Way down deep where the crawdads sing
We can know what rumors confide
Listen for whatever hope they can bring

All we can know of life and death
As the children explore with a loss of breath
We sometimes believe we're invincible
These are the moments that we find incredible

The town folk talk about the truth coming out
But until it does, there is room enough for doubt
Guilt or innocence, it's hard to say
I suppose the jury will determine that one day

When you're in trouble, hide.
Way down deep where the crawdads sing
We can know what rumors confide
Listen for whatever hope they can bring

This may seem a bit heated
But children become as they are treated
If they live without love, they'll retreat into shells
This becomes the truth of their private Hells

Such a child learns not to be seen
There's a need for courage in the hurting things
It's hard to hold to love in life's cruelty
A heart won't last beaten down by brutality

When you're in trouble, hide.
Way down deep where the crawdads sing
We can know what rumors confide
Listen for whatever hope they can bring

(c) March 3, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: Promote, Then, As An Object of Primary Importance, Institutions For the General Diffusion of Knowledge…It Is Essential That Public Opinion Should Be Enlightened

“Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” – George Washington, “George Washington’s Farewell Address 

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Thought For the Day: Courage Is the Most Important of All the Virtues Because Without Courage, You Can’t Practice Any Other Virtue Consistently

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” – Maya Angelou

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In the Hope of Perseverance

In the Hope of Perseverance
by Michael Doyle

To live and love as if Christ
I'll live in His promise
God's sacrifice is the gain of Christ
There is no compromise

The little that I give, does not compare
To the gain in escaping the snare
I know that I'll never forget
My Lord has given me nothing but net

The witness of the Bible shines salvation
Given to us despite our errors from the foundation
Showing us the best of following His ways
He has been providing us the best of our days

It's not about our works, but His grace
Our eternity anchors this gift in His embrace
There is a momentum that gives the consequence
That His grace secures for our recompense

God is infinitely comprehensible
To be personally known as deep as we're capable
There is so much in store to be found
In the truth of God that readily abounds

Rock solid in the faith's evidence
We are guided by its providence
Though we may suffer for perseverance
Christ died for us, that we may live in His presence

From first blessings to our reconciliation
Peace, grace, hope, and love are our compensation
For giving our faithful souls in worship
The rest is what becomes of this relationship

Through our lives, we stand in grace
Entrusting ourselves in God's holy spaces
Holding salvation as sacred as a gift God's shown
Into our better selves, we hope that we've grown

The commitment needed must be godly and right
Full circle traveled into Jesus's light
Breathing life into the sails, we live
And it all begins when we ask and God forgives

Like the water of life running through
It is because of God and nothing that we do
Love extended becomes the will of hearts
This then is how a godly life starts

We reflect God's love in its flow
Living out His ways as we grow
Running patterns that reveal His Love
Living here on this earth as if living above

(c) March 2, 2025 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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