First Principles: A Sacred Respect For the Constitutional Law Is the Vital Principles, the Sustaining Energy of A Free Government

“A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.” – Alexander Hamilton (1794)

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In An Unfolding of Glory

The Arabesque Cafe - Its Been A Hard Day's Knight
In An Unfolding of Glory
by Michael Doyle

The playwright was dragged from public display
Of his satire written to illustrate another way
Thriving with an acrid taste of acrimony
That was held up with ridicule as sanctimony

As the Spanish Inquisition held the world in chains
To bind the writer's thoughts wrapped up in vain
Putting poets in prison for expressing points of view
Though they are dressed up in stories, however true

Trappings of theater are to be put on life mock trial
Spending moments of reality caught on the endless mile
We plead guilty to the heard despite what passes for doubt
As we look for a way to find an idealist's way out

Bad poetry comes from the bottom of tortured souls
In which every player takes and plays for the player's role
Beginning in the studies of man's modern ways
Brooding the sanity in the truest ways of chivalry's days

Debauched and debased as the world often is and can be
He seeks the quests of Quixote and the ways of his duty
Accompanied by the truest of those who would be friends
And who will accompany the dreamer until the journey's end

In the discord of uneven song accompanied by nobility's dance
Onward to the as yet, unfolded glory of life's romance
Having seemingly endless patience, life deals its cards
Coming at us with all its fight and ever-so-biting hard

And there he goes full-force, tilting at windmills again
To the dismay and amusement of both foe and of friend
The battles that an errant knight seeks with savage illusion
Are those which seek reality and are his own ruinous intrusions

Even the worst critics are victims of their own vanity
While questioning the brave dreamer's tainted sanity
Life teaches us too often that it's all the same
Starry eyes and disabused love are too often held to blame

It's all in where true values may be hidden yet held,
Even when the best of life will not its favor yield
Life becomes a meaningless sort of endless game
And perhaps to most, it becomes as if it is all the same

In modern days when morality seems, at best ambivalent
One person's chivalric dreams can still somehow be relevant
To the outcome of the passion plays that remains the story
And arrive at last, at the edge of the unfolding of glory

(c) August 3, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Noweeta - Tilting At Windmills

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First Principles: There is Nothing More Corrupting, Nothing More Destructive of the Noblest and Finest Feelings of Our Nature, Than the Exercise of Unlimited Power

“There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.” – William Henry Harrison

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Thought For the Day: The World Is Changed Not By the Self-Regarding, But By Men and Women Prepared To Make Fools of Themselves

“The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.” -P.D. James, novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)

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To Be A Warrior

To Be A Warrior
by Michael Doyle

To be a warrior
That is to say, a good warrior
Requires more than the draw your blade
And being assured your prowess is displayed

No, it requires a reason
A reason that is good to find that season
When the time is due and just
To raise that blade of fine steel that must

Win the fight that must be fought
By men of strength who've always sought
In the knowledge of what is the good
To be carried to victory, as best that's understood

Not just a battle for those cherished and loved
But for all who follow the ways of Heaven above
This, then, is the true warrior who fights
As if serving the cause of a thousand lights

So it is written and, so it is indeed said
By the greatest kings and the men that they have led
I've heard this repeated since the days of my youth
And I know in my soul that it is the truth

(c) August 2, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Exhalt - A Warrior's Throne

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First Principles: He That Would Make His Own Liberty Secure, Must Guard Even His Enemy From Oppression, For If He Violates, This Duty, He Establishes A Precedent

“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.” – Thomas Paine, Dissertation On First Principles of Government (1791)

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Thought For the Day: You Think Your Pains and Heartbreaks Are Unprecedented In the History of the World, But Then You Read

“You think your pains and heartbreaks are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who have ever been alive.” -James Baldwin, writer (2 Aug 1924-1987)

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For Your 16th Birthday

Indianapolis Museum of Art - Angie's Birthday
For Your 16th Birthday
by Michael Doyle

The hours are past and moved into the night
I was blessed by a day that you made bright
A day before your actual birthday but beautiful
It was a celebration of how you're so wonderful

Sweet daughter of mine, it's just a step farther
As I watch you grow up, I'm blessed to be your father
Even when you make me guess at what gift to give
The smiles on your face let me know I've watched you live

Sufficiently enough to know what might make you smile
Though I swear shopping made me feel like I was on trial
As I watched you open your presents, I did real good
And you smiled as if you knew you were sure I would

Now as I sit here in the silence and the darkness
I reflect on how you and your sister remove life's harshness
And I smile to myself at how beautiful you have grown
And are one of my favorite people that I've ever known

I thank God and you that you are a very loving daughter
Not a day goes by that I'm not proud to be your father
It is my heart's delight to see the ways that you grow
And one of my two greatest treasures that I'll ever know

(c) August 1, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Indianapolis Museum of Art - Angie's Birthday

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Thought For the Day: Of All the Preposterous Assumptions of Humanity Over Humanity, Nothing Exceeds Most of the Criticisms Made On the Habits of the Poor By the Well-Houses, Well-Warmed and Well-Fed

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.” -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1 Aug 1819-1891)

But that doesn’t mean we should lower society’s standards instead of aiming to keep good standards. This seems the pattern in the last 30+ years.

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First Principles: To Prevent Crimes, Is the Noblest End and Aim of Criminal Jurisprudence. To Punish Them, Is One of the Means Necessary for the Accomplishment

“To prevent crimes, is the noblest end and aim of criminal jurisprudence. To punish them, is one of the means necessary for the accomplishment of this noble end and aim.” – James Wilson (1790)

Two sides of the same noble coin, Each should be kept in mind in the pursuit of an orderly society

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