ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

Having Heard the Warning

Posted on August 5, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Further reflections on my eldest daughter turning 13:

Heaving Heard the Warning
by Michael Doyle

On Saturday night as I kissed you into sleep
There was a part of me that wanted to keep
This moment forever as a sacred treasure
That meant more to me than words can measure

I knew that with the first light of morning
Your childhood would fade, having heard the warning
All those memories wrapped in a bow of childhood
Some happy, some were sad, but all of them good

I have watched all of your days come and then go
Each moment more precious than the last since first hello
As you looked up at me with you crystal blue eyes
And now I was waiting for the first beams of sunrise

Knowing that though Sunday seemed just like Saturday
Magical to me in all ways, a change had come into play
Yours has been the heartbeat within my own heart
And now I have to let go just a bit and let you part

As you become your own as really you've always been
Always one of my two most favorite of human beings
It's hard to write this poem with tears in my eyes
But as we say goodbye to childhood, it helps to realize

The beautiful young heart and soulful young lady you are
Unafraid to follow after and pursue your own North Star
And as we cuddle and watch the movie you hold my hand
As if to let me know that you love me and understand

That it's not easy to let go of the little girl you were
It's seemed as though the days have passed in a blur
Since born that day and you smiled into my camera's eye
That I hid behind for fear that anyone might see me cry

Tears of love for the greatest gift that God has ever given
To me and knowing that in teaching you to live I was living
The greatest truth known to a man, that of loving his daughter
Each moment a moment lived in sacred prayer as your father

In five more years, society will label you as a grown adult
And I am sure that you will do all things as you ought
If you stumble I will be there to catch you safely in my arms
Even as I watch you enchant some young man with all of your charms

Teaching you by example and by word that each year is to revere
And that though life can be tough, you will persevere
As you sail into this realm of new and uncharted territory
I look forward to every word of your special life's story

(c) August 5, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Adult, All Good, All of Your Charms, All of Your Days, Always Been, Beautiful, Blue, Blur, Born, Bow, By Example, By-Word, Camera's Eye, Catch You Safely, Change, Childhood, Come, Crystal, Cuddle, Daughter, Do All Things, Each Moment, Each Year, Enchant, Every Word, Eyes, Fade, Fear, First, First Beams, First Light, Five More Years, Forever, Given, Go, God, Goodbye To Childhood, Greatest Gift, Greatest Truth, Happy, Hard To Write, Having Heard, heartbeat, Hello, Hid Behind, Hold My Hand, Human Beings, I Will Be there, If You Stumble, Just A Bit, Keep, Kissed, Known To A Man, Label, Last, Let Go, Let You, Life Can Be Tough, Life's Story, Little Girl, Lived, Living, Look Forward, Looked Up, Loving His Daughter, Magical, Measure, Memories, Moment, More Precious, More To Me, Morning, Most Favorite, My Arms, My Heart, North Star, Not Easy, One of My Two, Part, Part of Me, Persevere, Photography, Play, Poem, Poetry, Realize, Realm, Reflection, Revere, Sacred Prayer, Sacred Treasure, Sad, Sail Into, Saturday Night, See Me Cry, Sleep, Smile, Society, Some Young Man, Soulful, Special, Sunday, Sunrise, Teaching You, Teaching You To live, Tears In My Eyes, Tears of Love, The Days Have Passed, The Warning, To Let Go, To Let Me Know, Turning 13, Unafraid, Uncharted Territory, Understand, Warning, Watch the Movie, Watched, Were, Within, Words, Wrapped, You Are, You Love Me, You Ought, Young Heart, Young Lady, Your Father, Your Own | Leave a comment

First Principles: Give All the Power To the Many, They Will Oppress the Few. Give All the Power To the Few, They Will Oppress the Many

Posted on August 5, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many.” – Alexander Hamilton

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Alexander Hamilton, All Power, First Principles, Give, Many, Oppress, The Few | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: Through Blood, Sweat and Tears, Americans Did More Than Any Other Nation To Bring A Swift End To Slavery

Posted on August 5, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“Through blood, sweat, and tears, Americans did more than any nation ever had to bring a swift end to slavery,” – Thomas Krannawitter, creator of many civics study programs/clubs including the10-month program titled “Tragedy & Triumph: The Story of Slavery in the United States”

To Lincoln and many other among him, the central founding principle was the equality of mankind. People like Howard Zinn and other such ignorant persons may be heavily influencing discourse in America and across the world today, but, they are very clearly wrong if you examine the source documentation and read the battles played out in word and deed. It’s a sad state of affairs that only shedding true light seems capable of overcoming. We need to start at revamping our civics and history classes so that our youth are exposed to the truth and not Marxist rantings that however passionately put are still false.

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Americans, Blood, Did More, Nation, Slavery, Sweat, Swift End, Tears, Thomas Krannawitter, Thought For the Day | Leave a comment

Learning To Do the Math

Posted on August 4, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

2nd poem from the work shop:

Learning To Do Math
by Michael Doyle

She spoke eloquently of her calculations
While I sat mystified;  musing on the math
That is found in music and in so much art
Wondering how it is that she with her heart
Didn't realize that of the two ways of doing math
I was neither smarter than anyone else
Nor persistent in my  too consistent errors
Like a blind man in the middle of a dark room
I search for the cat of Schrodinger's theory
Understanding so little of what fascinates me
Wondering if it's really truly there or simply
Workable as fact until replaced by something else

(c) August 4, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Anyone Else, Art, Blind Man, Calculations, Cat, Consistent, Dark Room, Eloquent, Error, Fact, Fascinate, Found, Heart, Learn, Little, Math, Middle, Muse, Music, Mystified, Persistent, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Realize, Replace, Schrodinger, Search, Simply, Smarter, Something Else, Spoke, Theory, There, Truly, Two Ways, Understanding, Wonder, Wondering, Work Shop, Workable | Leave a comment

Guess It Goes Without Saying

Posted on August 4, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

A poem from a free verse workshop that I am attending tonight:

Guess It Goes Without Saying
by Michael Doyle

I guess it goes without saying
In this crazy life we're playing
That You can't have the light
Without the darkness of shadow
You can't have day without night
There is that uncertainty in all we know

There is no happiness for the sane
Who haven't felt their way through pain
But there's that need for the contrast
Of the in-between that doesn't last
It's there we find our moving way
To get through this every sort of day

In my shadow, I find that I still exist
Though in my mind some doubt persists
Hiding at times and yet always present
My laughter doesn't hide what I resent
But there in the colors between my lines
Is the function of my emotional land mines

It seems my mind is always cast toward purity
Because it's there that I find my security
But the shaded shadows have much more to say
About the life actually lived in my day to day
Thrown stones might shatter my windowed glass
But if you don't mind, I think I'll take my pass

(c) August 4, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged ast, Cast, Colors, Contrast, Crazy Life, Darkness, Day, Day To Day, Don't Mind, Doubt, Emotional, Exist, Felt, Find, Free Verse, Function, Glass, Guess, Happiness, Hide, In-between, Know, Land Mines, Laughter, Life Actually Lived, Light, Lines, More To Say, My Mind, Need, Night, Pain, Persists, Photograph, Playing, Poem, Poetry, Present, Purity, Resent, Sane, Saying, Security, Shade, Shadow, Shatter, Sort, Take My Pass, Thrown Stones, Time, Uncertainty, Way, Window, Workshop | Leave a comment

First Principles: There Are Two Types of Education; One Should Teach Us How To Make A Living and the Other How to Live

Posted on August 4, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“There are two types of education; One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live.” ― John Adams

Posted in First Principles | Tagged Education, First Principles, How To Live, How To Make A Living, John Adams, Teach, Two Types | Leave a comment

Thought For the Day: It Was Books That Taught Me That the Things That Tormented Me Were the Very Things That Connected Me

Posted on August 4, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“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)

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged Alive, All People, Books, Connected Me, Heartbreaks, History of the World, James Baldwin, Or Ever Alive, Pains, Read, Taught, Things, Think, Thought For the Day, Tormented Me, Unprecendented | Leave a comment

Awkward Silence Felt

Posted on August 3, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

Does anyone else ever get into routines? I suppose there is good and bad to these things.

Awkward Silence Felt
by Michael Doyle

The awkward silence between
Feels down, dirty and mean
In pop culture's references
We're coming down to preferences

Stuck in a rut of sameness
But if we like it, it's not lameness
Despite what the puppet master may say
Having it the same, is perfectly okay

After all, where would we go
And it is perfectly alright to know
What it is to know what to expect
It's not a life filled with regret

There's a rumor flown sky high
That an adventure never asks why
It's just a dare to live the dream
However that might be or seem

There's a lot to be said for familiarity
Though even that has no set guarantee
Still it will all work out with sincerity
Avoiding the dark clouds of incongruity

Even puppets get lulled into sleep
Hiding from the secrets we all keep
Hurting where the hurt starts to flow
Still, they say if we learn from it, we grow

It doesn't take being a touch psychic to find
The confusion of life flowing through our minds
But it helps to look for signs when we're lost
Now there's a lesson that comes free of cost

It's in these moments free of desperation 
That we find our fullest bits of inspiration
Moving out beyond the soul's revealing
There's the truth that beyond all we're feeling

(c) August 3, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry and Poems | Tagged Adventure, After All, Avoid, Awkward, Between, Confusion, Dare, Dark Clouds, Desperation, Expect, Familiarity, Feel, Feeling, Felt, Flow, Free, Free of Cost, Full, Go, Good and Bad, Grow, Guarantee, Hurt, Incongruity, Inspiration, Keep, Know, Lame, Learn, Lesson, Life, Live the Dream, Lost, Lot To Be Said, Lull, Might Be, Mind, Moments, Okay, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Pop Culture, Prefect, Preference, Psychic, Puppet Master, Puppets, Reference, Regret, Revealing, Routine, Rumor, Rut, Same, Sameness, Say, Secrets, Seem, Shy, Signs, Silence, Sincerity, Sky High, Sleep, Soul, Truth, Work Out | Leave a comment

Thought for the Day: May Each of You Have the Heart To Conceive, the Understanding to Direct and the Hand To Execute the Works That Will Make the World A Little Better For You Having Been Here

Posted on August 3, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“My fondest hope for each one of you — and especially for the young people here — is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill.” – Ronald Reagan

Posted in Thought For the Day | Tagged A Little Better, Conceive, Direct, Each, Execute, Hand, Having Been, Heart, Here, Make, Ronald Reagan, The Works, Thought For the Day, Understanding, World, You | Leave a comment

First Principles: The Cause of America Is In A Great Measure the Cause of All Mankind

Posted on August 3, 2020 by alohapromisesforever

“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” – Thomas Paine, in Common Sense

Posted in First Principles | Tagged America, Cause, First Principles, Great Measure, Mankind, Thomas Paine | Leave a comment

ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER

Having Heard the Warning

First Principles: Give All the Power To the Many, They Will Oppress the Few. Give All the Power To the Few, They Will Oppress the Many

Thought For the Day: Through Blood, Sweat and Tears, Americans Did More Than Any Other Nation To Bring A Swift End To Slavery

Learning To Do the Math

Guess It Goes Without Saying

First Principles: There Are Two Types of Education; One Should Teach Us How To Make A Living and the Other How to Live

Thought For the Day: It Was Books That Taught Me That the Things That Tormented Me Were the Very Things That Connected Me

Awkward Silence Felt

Thought for the Day: May Each of You Have the Heart To Conceive, the Understanding to Direct and the Hand To Execute the Works That Will Make the World A Little Better For You Having Been Here

First Principles: The Cause of America Is In A Great Measure the Cause of All Mankind

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