“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” – Thomas Paine (1776)
Closed For Renovation
by Michael Doyle
With a startled turn
Life became the strange
With a subtle twist of fate
Suddenly, plans became small change
Learning how to simply live
Our best moments in isolation
All across our land we wished to give
As if it was all closed for renovation
Some of us turned inward in our grief
Seeking there to find a way through
Finding our remaining courage in belief
Because it was simply what we must do
Six foot, three foot, perhaps more
Life was safer kept in the distance
Life was lived safest behind closed door
Our freedoms given up with minimal resistance
There I was with my semi-legendary plans
Of packing up for one long road trip
To write about and photograph our American lands
Were tossed aside as Corona tightened its grip
What might become of our American nation
As lives were caught up in surreal meaning
As if our America had lost its footing as a nation
And we could no longer tell nightmares from dreaming
Now as spring has lightly become sprung
We again have hope for living without masks
And while this experience cannot be un-rung
Tremulous lips pray and quietly ask
That once this viral horror has lifted
Let our children never see this again
The lessons learned, let's count as gifted
And those left alive, let's count as loved friends
Turning toward one another in earnest dedication
Seeking our better world with each new day
And be a nation, no longer closed for renovation
But one that recalls God's love on this Easter day
(c) April 4, 2021 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
For those who do not know about this poetry event:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”- Hans Christian Anderson
Words That Sound Good
by Michael Doyle
There is a bit of something
That is eloquently rapped into nothing
That there are words that just sound good
And go together well like they should
It's a bit of the simplicity
That is found inside the worst complexity
And if I were not as busy as a bee
Chasing at the square root of mystery
I suppose that I would be unapologetic
At anything just short of the apocalyptic
Staring into dictionaries like a museum
That preserves my heart in its equilibrium
There are words that should never be clandestine
More precious than the golden ore we mine
And it is in this bit of pleasantry
That we find the best of life's pageantry
(c) April 3, 2021 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
“Make no judgments where you have no compassion.” – Anne McCaffrey, writer (1 Apr 1926-2011)
“I am a friend to righteous government, to a government founded upon the principles of reason and justice. But I glory in publicly avowing my eternal enmity to tyranny.” – John Hancock
Na/GloPoWriMo Day 2: Scattered From A Hillside
by Michael Doyle
Two papers and a PowerPoint in a day
Makes me wonder about coming unraveled
As I go back to college again to find my way
Perhaps this can serve as my road less travelled
A friend offers his words of friendly advice
To not sweat the details and let the words roll
Standing on a hillside looking for what might suffice
It has been a busy day that has taken its toll
It all seems a bit toward the aspirational
And nothing short of wise and inspirational
A judge might even keep it well gaveled
As to his advice on playing on roads less travelled
I think I'll just think on the unseen details
And see what my word play might yet reveal
Maybe it will something I didn't borrow or steal
Who knows what this aching mind yet reveal
Peering down from a mental hillside seeming steep
On the valley below filled with striking woods
There something strikes even weary eyes wounded deep
As details resolve from the woulds and many shoulds
Until at last some kind of poem comes out to play
Tossing itself carelessly about on the empty screen
This is the rough business of yet another poem a day
Where even the wisest sometimes wonder what these mean
(c) April 2, 2021 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
“[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.” – Benjamin Rush
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