Sometimes words come out stilted Leaving heads hung and tilted Listening as the lonesome whistle blows Suddenly, we're all raggedy hobos
As we wonder to ourselves where time has gone Wasn't it just yesterday when trains rolled on Somewhere down the tracks to places we'd guess When the truth was we couldn't care less
Listening to the great American train song Was part of a childhood that doesn't belong Not anymore, it seems, except for the country Where lonely trains still roll for you and me
Do you remember climbing in the back of the truck We didn't know we were just pushing our luck Drinking out of rubber hoses and staying outside The days of our lives were a heck of a ride
The tracks we saw stretched far and wide We would walk along them with the radio to guide Where we were going, though no one knew We were Americans raised for the red, white, and blue
Listening to the great American train song Was part of a childhood that doesn't belong Not anymore, it seems, except for the country Where lonely trains still roll for you and me
Horizons come where hopeful memories coincide We were full of youth and our world's pride Riding streams of iron as the landscape unfurled As we got older and the world just whirled
We have traded the trains for road trips we drive Looking back on our youth, happy to have survived We wink at each other without needing a word The memories have passed us all in life's blur
Listening to the great American train song Was part of a childhood that doesn't belong Not anymore, it seems, except for the country Where lonely trains still roll for you and me
(c) March 19, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Government has no right to control individual liberty beyond what is necessary to the safety and well-being of society. Such is the boundary which separates the power of the government and the liberty of the citizen or subject in the political state.” – John C. Calhoun
Sometimes, the law gets in the way The way of what passes for justice It isn't as it should be But it is simply what it is
Sometimes, life fills up our days Fills up our days in the strangest ways It isn't maybe how it was meant to be But it has a sense of irony that plays
We find that life is give and take Contracts don't bind us more than handshakes To believe otherwise is our first mistake But not least that will our heads shake
The best that we can do is exactly that In the laws of the Jungle, it's exactly the fact That we are honor-bound to repay good And to do with evil as know we should
These exceed the legends that exist And stories like this persist Hiding in this world of dark shadows Is the only reality we'll truly ever know
(c) March 17, 2025 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Living the world's way is often a loss It is at best, a coin toss To die and live again in our relationship Moves beyond the wisdom of our worship
It's unshakeable in this accomplishment Our lives are redeemed in their improvement Walking our roads covered by providence One by one, we find the goodness of our consequence
Our spiritual genetics were sadly fallen Until we awoke to hear our savior calling Rising up with the freedom to be alive We awaken to take our place and thrive
Dying to sin, we live in it no longer Living in Christ, we've become stronger Certainly united to Christ in His resurrected death We walk, freed from sin with each new breath
We are no longer under sin but live in grace Justification, sanctification, and glory by trace Remove the broken tendencies that hold us back Through Christ's power, there is nothing that we lack
Embracing holiness, we escape sin's slavery Through given grace, we are freed from this misery In Christ, we are immersed in a state of reverence As we take on the ways of true providence
Symbolically dying with Christ to our sin We resurrect to renew ourselves again Nails in the coffin, we die to the wrong And become revived to where we belong
Sin may be inevitable, but it is no longer necessary At the cross, Jesus has given us a new legacy Learning to and adhering through God's good grace This is how we live out our godly traces
On the fateful day that we repent from sin We become free to truly live again Finding the worst of life has come to an end Our salvation's grace is left to comprehend
(c) March 16, 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
