“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” – Matthew 11:11 (NIV)
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First Principles: Truly I Tell You, Among Those Born of Women There Has Not Risen Anyone Greater Than John the Baptist; Yet Whoever Is Least In the Kingdom of Heaven Is Greater Than He
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Born of Women, First Principles, John the Baptist, Kingdom of Heaven, Least, Matthew 11:11 (NIV), Riseen, True
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Deep End Moments
Deep End Moments
by Michael Doyle
The deep end of the dating scene
It can be or seem extremely shallow
That is, if you know what I mean
It's, at best, the higher love's shadow
Can true love come without face-to-face?
Or is that hoping for a hopeless dream
We all want that someone special to embrace
And become our own best king or queen
Looking out of love's falling sunset
We reach for some shown connection
Heart and head together and well met
Without a director's silver screen correction
It seems that even the most jaded
Hope for a love that is somehow blind
Pushing hard past victories faded
And yet, we pray for mercy to be kind
We hope for sweet truth out of the gate
Hoping for that meeting from the inside
It's the true love moment for which we wait
Crystalized as Cupid's arrow quietly arrives
There is something special about a smile
Especially when it reaches out from the inside
Like Cleopatra floating down Egypt's Nile
A good heart quietly proves it can confide
Those things we're afraid to let show
But go miles in telling how exactly we feel
Are those things that let love grow
In the secrets these things reveal
(c) March 2, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Afraid, Arrive, Arrow, Best, Blind, Cleopatra, Confide, Connection, Correction, Crystalized, Cupid, Dating Scene, Deep End, Director, Dream, Egypt, Embrace, Face-To-Face, Faded, Fall, Feel, Good Heart, Heart and Head, Higher Love, Hope, Hopeless, Inside, Jaded, Kind, King, Know, Let Love Grow, Love, Mean, Meet, Mercy, Miles, Moments, Nile, Out of the Gate, Past, Poetry and Poems, Pray, Prove, Queen, Reach, Reveal, Secrets, Shadow, Show, Silver Screen, Smile, Someone Special, Special, Sunset, Sweet Truth, Tell, Together, True Love, True Love Moment, Victory, Wait, Well Meet
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First Principles: The Great Leading Objects of the Federal Government…Are To Maintain Domestic Peace, and Provide For the Common Defense
“The great leading objects of the federal government … are to maintain domestic peace, and provide for the common defense.” – Alexander Hamilton (1788)
Thought For the Day: Cooking Is At Once Child’s Play and Adult Joy. And Cooking Done With Care Is An Act of Love
“Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.” – Craig Claiborne
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Act of Love, Adult Joy, Care, Child's Play, Cooking, Craig Claiborne, Thought For the Day
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In A World of Thoughts and Other Misgivings
In A World of Thoughts and Other Misgivings
by Michael Doyle
In a world of thoughts and other misgivings
There is a lot of hurt in need of forgiving
Not just for you or for me, but all it seems
There are just too many fragmented dreams
Too many people have been swept into disbelieving
With so much evidence that our eyes are deceiving
The conundrum is more than in the eye of the beholder
And yet less harsh than told by our media scolders
Like moths to the camera's flame, we cannot name
Yet seems far too predestined to burn in its flame
We're all on the verge until the very bitter end
When what we could use is at least one true friend
Quite a bit of the evil is in the complacency
Indifferent people who forget to act with decency
It's so easy to remain shadowed in a quiet majority
Fear of the barbarians brings us to our own barbarity
Some say it's often a desired narrative of equilibrium
That fears to speak up for fear of causing disruption
And humanity must speak up in recognition of the resolution
To spring to mind as the presupposed, needed solution
It's a matter of artistic and logical necessity
That when we see wrong, we must speak up, even if quietly
The swan-geese honks aloud to bring about the empathy
It fills the void to speak up against a sort of normality
That accepts less than we ever really could or even should
That is, you know, if we are to ever have what is good
It is these challenges that strengthen our sense of morality
To do less is to bring certain end to our declining humanity
(c) March 1, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Accept Less, Act, Artistic, Barbarians, Beholder, Bitter End, Burn, Camera, Certain End, Challenges, Complacency, Conundrum, Could, Deceiving, Decency, Declining Humanity, Disbelieving, Disruption, Do Less, Dreams, Empathy, Evidence, Eyes, Fear, Flame, Forgiving, Fragmented, Good, Harsh, Humanity, Hurt, Indifferent People, Logical, Majorrity, Matter, Media, Mind, Misgivings, Moth, Name, Narrative of Equilibrium, Necessity, Needed Solution, Normality, Poetry and Poems, Presupposed, Quietly, Recognition, Resolution, Scolder, Seems, Sense of Morality, Shadow, Should, Speak Up, Strengthen, Swan-Geese, Swept, Thoughts, True Friend, Verge, Void, World, Wrong
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First Principles: Our Constitution Was Made Only For A Moral and Religious People. It Is Wholly Inadequate To the Government of Any Other
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Any Other, Constitution, First Principles, Government, Inadequate, John Adams, Made Only, Moral, People, Religious
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Thought For the Day: For Evil To Take Place, the Acts of A Few People Are Not Sufficient; the Great Majority Also Has To Remain Indifferent
“For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent. That is something of which we are all quite capable.” – Tzvetan Todorov
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Act, All, Capable, Evil, Few People, Great Majority, Indifferent, Place, Sufficient, Thought For the Day, Tzvetan Todorov
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Time Tumbles
Time Tumbles
by Michael Doyle
Time Tumbles in its own jagged way
This February is given a 29th day
Called out special as a leap year
For myself, it's a cause to cheer
Is it four years or passing as one
That my work life has been done
I purposefully retired on this day
So that I might recall it in this way
In 2020, I was among the walking sick
I made my decision, and I made it quick
That it might seem like a poetic line
But I would retire on February 29
It was to be my own special Valentine
That I would choose life on February 29
This was my celebration that would suffice
To focus on my life by this poetic device
For most of my life, days fell as they would
Some were bad, some okay, and others were good
But most of them were spent serving others
Trying to live up to loving one another
In the process, chemicals had burned through
Leaving a mind-numbing hole, as these often do
And I had been reminded hard of our numbered days
Having the chance, I decided to spend mine in other ways
Photography and poetry would become my line
This was, to me, a gift as a special Valentine
I would spend my remaining days bringing beauty
Instead of being a mindless minion doing my duty
Four years out, maybe it's a foolish dream
But it's one that holds me together at the seams
I raise a toast of flavored water at this year won
Four as it is that have become mine and done
One day at its precious time left to be lived
Gathered up in a force of one, in all I've left to give
I remain thankful for this year, or was it really four
This is what illusions like this are for...
(c) February 29, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged 2020, 29, Bringing Beauty, Burn, Celebration, Chance, Cheer, Chemicals, Choose Life, Days, Decision, Doing My Duty, Done, February, Flavored Water, Focus, Foolish Dream, Four Years, Four Years Out, Gift, Good, Hole, Jagged Way, Leap Year, Loving One Another, Mind-Numbing, Mindless Minion, Most of My Life, Numbered Days, One, Other Ways, Photography, Poetic Device, Poetic Line, Poetry, Poetry and Poems, Process, Quick, Recall, Remind, Retire, Seams, Serving Others, Special, Suffice, Time Tumbles, Toast, Together, Valentine, Walking Sick, Won, Work Life, Would
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First Principles: Measures Which Serve To Abridge the Free Competition of Foreign Articles, Have A Tendency To Occasion An Enhancement of Prices
“Measures which serve to abridge the free competition of foreign articles, have a tendency to occasion an enhancement of prices.” – Alexander Hamilton (1791)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Abridge, Alexander Hamilton, Enhancement, First Principles, Foreign Articles, Free Competition, Measures, Occasion, Price, Serve, Tendency
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Thought For the Day: Success Depends In A Very Large Measure Upon Individual Initiative and Exertion, and Cannot Be Achieved Except By A Dint of Hard Work
“Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.” – Anna Pavlova
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Achieve, Anna Pavolva, Depend, Dint, Except, Exertion, Hard Work, Individual Iniative, Large Measure, Success, Thought For the Day
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