“To restore … harmony … to render us again one people acting as one nation should be the object of every man really a patriot.” —Thomas Jefferson (1801)
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First Principles: To Restore…Harmony…To Render Us Again One People Acting As One Nation Should Be the Object of Every Man Really A Patriot
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Every Man, First Principles, Harmony, Object, One Nation, One People, Patriot, Render, Restore, Thomas Jefferson
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Thought For the Day: The Lust For Comfort Murders the Passions of the Soul
“The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul.” – Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (6 Jan 1883-1931)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Comfort, Kahlil Gibran, Lust, Murder, Passion, Soul, Thought For the Day
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Dedicated To A Half Remembered Lorax
Dedicated To A Half Remembered Lorax
by Michael Doyle
Hats off to Betty White
Who although not always right
Did voice for the Sneedville trees
And against polluting factories
There's something for the glitz that's not forgot
The importance of trees over parking lots
Beauty there is to be borne from the soiled ground
It's the most amazing miracle to ever be found
For outside the furthest edges of the dirty town
Are where the last best of answers will be found
It's where the best of magic will come true
If you want it bad enough for me and for you
Knowing full well and remembered quite capability
It's best to live and breath with responsibility
Out beyond the fringes of clever advertising that tries
To convince the gullible to continue to buy, buy, buy
It takes a special someone to pick these locks
And sneak past the thinking that comes pre-boxed
Careful how it's done to escape into the out there
Nature and freedom are closer than they ever appear
Is it so very hard to care about the felling of trees
Take a good listen if then you'll quietly please
Life it seems is about a whole lot more than greed
Through the love of truth, the human soul can be freed
In music we'll certainly, surely find our best way
Riffing along in the soul of every note that we play
Mankind will always think his changes are for the good
That is until our mistakes are unmasked and understood
Pushed along feely one boulder at the bearable time
Wisdom is patiently accrued in simple rhyme after rhyme
Guardians of the forests can't be seen through the trees
But must be heard however it is that you might please
(c) January 5, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Accrued, Advertise, Appear, Beauty, Best of Answers, Best Way, Betty White, Borne, Boulder, Buy, Capability, Careful, Changes, Dedicate, Edges, Escape, Factories, Felling of Trees, Forests, Forgot, Found, Freed, Freedom, Fringes, Glitz, Good, Greed, Ground, Guardian, Gullible, Heard, Human Soul, Listen, Live and Breath, Locks, Lorax, Love of Truth, Magic, Mankind, Miracle, Mistakes, Music, Nature, Note, Parking Lots, Play, Please, Poetry and Poems, Pollution, Pre-Boxed, Quiet, Remember, Responsibility, Rhyme, Riff, Right, Seems, Sneedville, Soil, Souls, Special Someone, Time, Town, Trees, True, Understood, Wisdom
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First Principles: Above All, Love Each Other Deeply, Because Love Covers Over A Multitude of Sins
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8 (New International Version)
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Tagged 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV), Above All, Cover, Deep, Each Other, First Principles, Love, Multitude, Sin
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Thought For the Day: Human Need Is Really A Great Spiritual Vacuum Which God Seeks To Fill
“Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill…With one hand in the hand of a fellow man in need and the other in the hand of Christ, He could get across the vacuum…Then the passage, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,’ came to have real meaning.”– George Washington Carver (d. January 5, 1943)
Under Lock and Key
Under Lock and Key
by Michael Doyle
Under lock and key
Is where I keep me
Hidden away so no one can see
There in arcs of memory
Shadowboxing with myself
Through all the volumes on the shelf
There really isn't much mystery
When we're talking self history
Recollections that are half wrong
Can never be truly right
But these are the imprints that belong
Turning the cast of darkness into light
Swinging the ropes of the family tree
They say it's a matter of biology
The fear present is a constant feeling
As I lay here silently bleeding
Wondering how you could do such a thing
Praying for the light tomorrow brings
There is a slowness filling my heart
A sense of dread from this moment's start
(c) January 4, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Arcs, Biology, Bleed, Bring, Constant Feeling, Darkness, Dread, Family Tree, Fear, Half Wrong, Heart, Hidden Away, Imprint, Light, Lock and Key, Me, Memory, Moment, Mystery, Poetry and Poems, Pray, Recollection, Right, Self History, Sense, Shadowboxing, Shelf, Silent, Slowness, Swing, Tomorrow, Volumes, Wonder
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First Principles: Nothing Is Easier Than Spending Public Money. It Does Not Appear To Belong To Anybody. The Temptation Is Overwhelming To Bestow It On Somebody.
“Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.” – President Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Anybody, Appear, Bestow, Calvin Coolidge, Easy, First Principles, Nothing, Public Money, Somebody, Spend, Temptation
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Thought For the Day: Courage Is the Greatest Of All the Virtues… If You Haven’t Courage, You May Not Have An Opportunity To Use Any of the Others
“Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.” – English author Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Courage, Great, Opportunity, Samuel Johnson, Thought For the Day, Virtue
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We’re Going To Make It
We're Going To Make It
by Michael Doyle
Whatever today's bit of sorrow
Keep holding on for tomorrow
Not giving in to the gray skies
Until you see the bright sunrise
That will greet your dreams
Held together now taped at the seams
In a world that even sells alibis
With a quarter, you get three more tries
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
Clinging to that bit of optimism
Not giving in to shanty town pessimism
Empty pockets to keep your fingers warm
Just another adjustment to the new norm
Another day of clueless shreds of blame
We know that not all tomorrows will be the same
Stuffed with the emptiness of platitude
The wisest will hang onto hope and gratitude
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
Souls in need of refuge on a winter's day
We have to keep warmth lingering some way
Sharing make believe cheerfulness here
Bravely keeping on without giving into fear
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
(c) January 3, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Adjustment, Alibis, Blame, Brave, Cheerfulness, Clueless, Dreams, Empty, Empty Pockets, Fear, Gratitude, Gray Skies, Greet, Holding On, Hope, Hopes and Dreams, Linger, Make Believe, Make It, New Day, New Norm, Newsmen, Optimism, Pessimism, Platitude, Poetry and Poems, Quarter, Refuge, Same, Seams, Shanty Town, Sing, Someday, Sorrow, Souls, Stay, Sunrise, Today, Together, Tomorrow, Warm, Warmth, We, Winter's Day, Wise, World
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First Principles: In the Supposed State of Nature, All Men Are Equally Bound By the Laws of Nature, Or To Speak More Properly, the Laws of the Creator
“In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator.” – Samuel Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged All Men, Equal, First Principles, Laws of Nature, Laws of the Creator, Nature, Samuel Adams, State
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