“It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, ‘whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,’ and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever.” – John Adams
“Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST.” – Frank Zappa
In protection from life's adversity An angel spread his wings imperfectly Knowing that life has limited mercy To protect us from the things of history
More profound than deep, I hear the river flow Somewhere beside where life's garden grows A tower of debris keeps getting taller While our humanity grows ever smaller
Helplessly flung by the winds into the future We wonder what it is we should have nurtured Having survived affliction, we are unmoored Reshaped by the wounds that we have endured
History is its own curse at prophecy All the things we thought we'd do to you and me The end and the past meet in this, we call today Without a moment more left for us to give away
I wonder what it will take to make us whole As we grasp at hope in living through catastrophe Drifting on safely as time slips into the past Wouldn't it have been nice if nice could last?
Helplessly flung by the winds into the future We wonder what it is we should have nurtured Having survived affliction, we are unmoored Reshaped by the wounds that we have endured
(c) March 26, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“In time of peace there can, at all events, be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the Federal Government. Its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort.” – Martin Van Buren
“Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her own life.” – Viktor E. Frankl
From our earliest days, when we dwelt in caves, We have tried to understand what it is that saves Our rarest sentiments are served up like a delicacy These are questionable as we define principled liberty
It is a hard road to pretend we're a civilized country When we hung on so hard to the viciousness of slavery Childish illusions struggle and toss around us nearly daily Lost in the shame of the great escape, we are betrayed, maybe
We think it bold to speak of freedom with great sympathy Toward those we don't hold as brothers in feigned empathy Condemnation is the feeling behind our grasp of freedom Despite the complexity, we hope we are spared wisdom
Held in the same chains by which we hold any others in The best we have is the worst of the lesser man's sins These are insurmountable in flavor that restrain our power As we bend our bloody knees for moments of our best hours
Civilization, then, is the best influence of a good woman Who can look us in the eyes and cure us of our inflicted demon Crossing the stormy seas, barely managing to keep control Until the power of love manages to hold onto our souls
We think it bold to speak of freedom with great sympathy Toward those we don't hold as brothers in feigned empathy Condemnation is the feeling behind our grasp of freedom Despite the complexity, we hope we are spared wisdom
(c) March 25, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” – Theodore Roosevelt
In these days When everything has gone frothy In a million ways We need those around to be worthy
That's who my friend had always been The one I knew was good for the win Ever since back in high school I knew her to be nobody's fool
Time had passed and slipped on by We had lost track, her with her smile And me, with my proverbial sigh She held onto her style
And when we met again a lifetime past We were still the same as the last She said I had the same smile she recalled I just looked and searched for words that stalled
She was still her but fighting cancer And I was still searching for an answer It was good that we connected on Facebook So that she couldn't turn and look
To see a tear in my eyes as I raised her prayer Asking the good lord to be more than fair We kept it simple as we traded quips Everything would be alright, was the lie on my lips
I looked in on her, watching her progress How calmly she faced life's ongoing test She said she had gained a paddleboarder's perspective And her demeanor seemed all the more reflective
How brave she is and has always been She was the type who kept cool since way back when And I was the one constantly searching for an answer If there was a way to beat it, we'd beat this cancer
Paddleboarding was her peace to keep things real And hers was a soul that knew how to stay still The crisis that was hitting her maybe it was surreal But I know her soul and can guess what she'd feel
The calm, clear water would give way to her glide As she found her time and her challenge in stride Life is like this, wherever we are, there we are Paddling due north, all to reach that true north star
Mindfulness in all of its focus and concentration And as a friend, I look on with a degree of fascination She had once said that I had not changed at all And she is still that girl that I'll always recall
I had been new to the place when we met in the hallway And now we've reconnected, and it's as if only yesterday Come Hell or high water, joyous laughter or cancer She always awes me, and I'll be the boy in search of an answer
(c) March 24, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
