“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.“ – Jeremiah 29:11
If you appreciate my work, please buy me a coffee
$3.00
First Principles: For I Know the Plans I Have For You,” Declares the Lord, “Plans To Prosper You and Not To Harm You, Plans To Give You Hope and A Future
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Declare, First Principles, Future, Harm, Hope, Jeremiah 29:11, Know, Plans, Prosper, The Lord
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: Railing Against the Past Will Not Heal Us. All We Can Do Is To Change Its Course By Encouraging What We Love Instead of Destroying What We Don’t
“Railing against the past will not heal us. All we can do is to change its course by encouraging what we love instead of destroying what we don’t.” – Arundhati Roy
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Arundhati Roy, Change, Course, Destroy, Encourage, Heal, Love, Railing, The Past, Thought For the Day
Leave a comment
Like Flowers In A Vase
Like Flowers In A Vase (For Joni Mitchell)
by Michael Doyle
Blonde hair and a long silhouette
A beautiful voice, unforgotten yet
Life's so short and makes us numb
Beauty like this is what we become
A voice for her generation
Held by many with great veneration
A lifetime's faded memory
A matriarch for our musical family
Sus chords ask needed questions
One to another without hesitation
Joni Mitchell, rock's Lady Blue
She held tight to her point of view
It suited her to be involved
In the clouds, unresolved
Life held up in introspection
She paints in words of circumspection
So much that we've taken for granted
As madmen and badmen wildly ranted
To get across our points of view
But no one knows just what is true
Spoken from a first-person narrative
With full voice bold and declarative
These were her truths to be shown
As if these things were already known
So much is left for our interpretation
Day upon day of life's contemplation
And the clouds surround to shelter you
But do they hint at the refractions of blue
Laurel Canyon's painted tapestry
Whisper the melody's mastery
Complex in chords and emotions
Following self was her secret devotion
Like fire in its fireplace
Songs are like flowers in their vase
Some loves seem to flow together
Joni's songs said it better
(c) November 23, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Beautiful Voice, Beauty, Become, Blonde Hair, Circumspection, Clouds, Declarative, First-Person Narrative, Flowers, Generation, Hesitation, Introspection, Involved, Joni Mitchell, Known, Lady Blue, Life, Madmen and Badmen, Memory, Numb, Poetry and Poems, Point of View, Question, Short, Shown, Silhouette, Sus Chords, Taken For Granted, True, Truth, Unforgotten, Unresolved, Vase, Veneration, Voice, Words
Leave a comment
First Principles: I Found I Had Less and Less To Say, Until Finally, I Became Silent, and Began To Listen. I Discovered In the Silence, the Voice of God
“I found I had less and less to say, until finally, I became silent, and began to listen. I discovered in the silence, the voice of God” – Soren Kierkegaard
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Discover, First Principles, Found, Less, Listen, Say, Silence, Silent, Soren Kierkegaard, The Voice of God
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: All Truth Passes Through Three Stages. First, It is Ridiculed. Second, It Is Violently Opposed. Third, It Is Accepted As Being Self-Evident
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Accept, All Truth, Arthur Schopenhauer, First, Opposed, Ridiculed, Second, Self-Evident, Third, Thought For the Day, Three Stages
Leave a comment
What She Doesn’t Know Yet
What She Doesn't Know Yet
by Michael Doyle
Listening to my daughters proudly
As they talk a bit too loudly
Each holding her own in conversation
Each of them has their own ambitions
My babies have grown up without regret
But I wish each would kindly not forget
They have yet quite a lot still to learn
Lessons that will come, each well-earned
As their father, each of them is a blessing
I know that I'll soon be empty-nesting
But watching each of them blossom and grow
I only wish that it might go more slow
I've held each of them dear from the start
And I know I will miss them when we're apart
I can only hope they know they'll be in my heart
On the last breath when from this earth, I depart
I smile inside at each of life's heartbreaks
My hope is there have been no irrevocable mistakes
Each of them has brought me a little angel-shine
But I know that the best has only been borrowed time
There among the falling stars is the memory
Of how beautiful it has been to have a family
While lost love always crests in its reflection
These girls will always be my warmest connection
If I've done well, they will rise far above
All the way to the top and kept there by love
Never dreading the childhoods left behind
And knowing they are always on their father's mind
Of all things in life, for me to be thankful
Their love is perhaps the most wonderful
I see this same love reflected in their eyes
And choke back a tear on remembered lullabies
(c) November 22, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Ambition, Angel-Shine, Apart, Babies, Beautiful, Behind, Blessing, Blossom and Grow, Borrowed Time, Childhoods, Choke Back A Tear, Conversation, Daughters, Depart, Done Well, Earth, Empty-Nesting, Falling Stars, Family, Far Above, Father, Father's Mind, Forget, Heart, Heartbreaks, Holding Her Own, Hope, Irrevocable Mistakes, Know, Last Breath, Lean, Lessons, Listen, Lost Love, Loud, Love, Lullabies, Memory, Miss, Most Wonderful, Poetry and Poems, Proud, Reflection, Regret, Remember, Same Love, She, Slow, Smile, Start, Talk, Thankful, Their Eyes, Their Love, These Girls, To the top, Warmest Connection, Watch, Well-Earned
Leave a comment
First Principles: The Aim of Every Political Constitution Is…To Obtain For Rulers Men Who Possess Most Wisdom to Discern, and Most Virtue To Pursue, the Common Good of the Society
“The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.” – James Madison (1788)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Aim, Common Good, First Principles, James Madison, Political Constitution, Precaution, Public Trust, Rulers, Society, Virtue, Virtuous, Wisdom
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: It’s Never Too Late To Become the Person You Always Thought You Could Be
“It is never too late to become the person you always thought you could be.” – George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (22 Nov 1819-1880)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Chance, Difference, George Eliot, Mary Ann Evans, Never, The Person, Thought, Thought For the Day, Too Late
Leave a comment
Saying Nothing In Times of Troubles
Saying Nothing In Times of Troubles
by Michael Doyle
The only certainty is it doubles
To be silent in times of troubles
At least, Irish history reveals
How false belief in God steals
The soul of a broken nation
That is riveting in its salvation
That never quite seemed to come
For a holy ghost faded to numb
Like a living novel of pure drama
Scenes played out in unceasing trauma
Youthful passion bleeds into disillusion
To feel so confident about one's confusion
Only goes to show how wrong one can be
When all around a person is a travesty
Caught up in a failed collective ideology
That eroded all individual responsibility
No heroes, no villains, only history
Wrong convictions that feed the mystery
Of how we become overwhelmed by feeling
Beyond the point that there is no healing
Some moral conflicts feign complexity
When really maybe there should be simplicity
The simplicity of truly giving peace a chance
And daring to transcend the given circumstance
How do we end a fight filled with atrocity?
Eye for eye in a blind world's deadly anxiety
It's an endless procession of misdeeds and confession
Where lack of forgiveness is the culture's obsession
These are among the lessons mankind must learn
Perhaps where we begin is to try to discern
If any kind of God would want so much blood
To spill or if it's just man, less kind, mired in our mud
It's the truth, the curse, the deadly lie
When we pray unceasingly, though not knowing why
And after such a conflict comes to its end
Can a divided nation ever again be friends?
(c) November 21, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Anxiety, Atrocity, Blind World, Blood, Broken Nation, Certainty, Chance, Circumstance, Collective Ideoloy, Complexity, Confession, Confident, Conflict, Confusion, Culture's Obsession, Curse, Discern, Disillusion, Divided Nation, Doubles, End, Eye For Eye, Feeling, Fight, Friends, God, Healing, Heroes, History, Holy Ghost, Individual Responsibility, Irish History, Lack of Forgiveness, Lean, Lessons, Lie, Living Novel, Mankind, Misdeed, Moral Conflict, Mud, Mystery, Numb, Passion, Peace, Poetry and Poems, Pray, Procession, Pure Drama, Salvation, Say Nothing, Scenes, Silent, Simplicity, Soul, Times of Troubles, Transcend, Trauma, Travesty, Truth, Villains, Why, Wrong, Wrong Convictions
Leave a comment
Thought For the Day: It is Difficult To Free Fools From the Chains They Revere
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” – Voltaire
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Chains, Difficult, First Principles, Fools, Free, Revere, Voltaire
Leave a comment
ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 