“God helps them that help themselves.” – Benjamin Fanklin, in Poor Richard’s Alamanack
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First Principles: God Helps Them That Help Themselves
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Benjamin Franklin, First Principles, God, Help, Poor Richard's Almanack, Them, Themselves
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Right Standing
Based in part on 1 Peter 12:
Right Standing by Michael Doyle Father, God in Jesus' name I have been made without blame Though your crucifixion Rising above my afflictions Thanks to your grace I am held in your loving embrace Saved without a trace of blame No longer living in shame Seeking always to be in right standing His yoke of faith is not too demanding I stand under His watchful, loving eye As I walk in the world with a quiet sigh Having come to the cross we will follow His life by example always in His shadow As the Lord turns against those living wrong Through our faith we are forever strong Having learned not to sin and smolder Asking for things so much bolder Than we have earned in our keeping It's no wonder angels are weeping Practical righteousness needs fixed direction As we move forward with His correction As long as we keep on in our learning And do our best to always be discerning The good days that turn into good weeks And talk the talk as we walk as we speak With the Holy Spirit leading us forward Onward and ever after moving toward ... our heavenly home broken to our bones But restored to our cure Living life holy and pure (c) March 26, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Affliction, Angel, Blame, Bolder, Bone, Broken, Cross, Crucifixion, Cure, Days, Demand, Direction, Discern, Earn, Embrace, Example, Faith, Father, Fix, Follow, Foward, God, Good, Grace, Heaven, His, Holy, Holy Spirit, Home, Jesus, Keep, Learn, Live, Lord, Loving, Name, Onward, Peter, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Pure, Restore, Right, Righteousness, Rise, Seek, Shadow, Shame, Sin, Smolder, Speak, Standing, Strong, Talk, Trace, Walk, Watch, Weeks, Weep, World, Wrong, Yoke
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A Federation Begins
In the formation of the American Constitution, the world’s political republican theory took a leap into reality despite some downsides.
A Federation Begins by Michael Doyle The extending of institutionalized slavery Remains a bleak mark in American history Kicking the can further on down the road As America moved onward in proclaiming liberty This enslavement and indentured servitude Are things for which there can be no gratitude Though it was something seen as expediently necessary It was and is a stain on our great legacy Although seen as problematic for our economy It ill bespeaks those who were calling for liberty The Founding Fathers are otherwise exemplary But this allowance was nothing short of contradictory Jefferson and Washington actively agonized over this Still, the inhuman contradiction cannot be missed This offense against God was all but incomprehensible And in no way at all is it or was it justly defensible The prevailing belief was that slavery would disappear Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellery spoke this without fear Of its own weight, slavery would not last as long as a speck In failing to act, the Founders nearly brought our wreck The Constitution in its language is quietly circumspect As to the righting of this wrong and given to neglect All allegedly for the reasoned fostering of our unity And was mentioned mostly in absence of its ubiguity The range of possibility was not then understood That this bad might be negated in favor of the good Trans-Atlantic slavery and fugitive slave laws Are the only insertions within the Constitution's clauses Yet, the evidence points to a period of transition Peeking at the cusp of ending this abomination The 19th Century would bring about needed abolition But, in no way was our nation founded on this foul institution History sadly bears no immaculate moment of conception To say there will ever be perfection would be deception This was but one issue of many confronting Federation As each state moved toward their consensual ratification The Federalists versus the Anti-Federalists were concerned Over the paths taken and the lessons well learned In concentrating power in the hands of the very few With many an opposing view brought into the public's view Patriots as great as Patrick Henry feared for monarchy Through handing over power despite the evils of near anarchy Heated issues brought rise to some very colorful writing Words flung as a matter of course of political infighting The arguments made by Hamilton, Madison and Mr. Jay Are some of the most persuasive writings to this day These were the definitive essays of political interpretation That caused the small 'r' republicans to face their repudiation 'If man were angels, government would not be necessary' Is perhaps one of the most famous edicts of our history Instead the gambit is to have ambition counter ambition There is, it is believed, not greater source of inhibition Strategically came the checks and balances of force Which has become seen as the wisest way and our course This was and is the last best chance at republican government Any other outcome was seen as and would be to our detriment The choice before the Framers was between reflective choice Or, mankind being chained to accident's tyrannical voice In this new science, we find history to be used against history To form a far greater moment unfolding in the world's mystery Though the Anti-Federalists were quite thoroughly defeated And in our American politics were quickly unseated Their arguments established the embodiment of the Bill of Rights And as such should, these men should be seen as Liberty's knights The protection against encompassing power was given to liberty As has been shown needed again and again in American history These few words are integral to our freedom's protection And have served well the People of our American nation (c) March 25, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged 19th Century, Abolition, Abomination, Accident, Ambition, American History, American Nation, Anarchy, Angels, Bad, Begin, Bill of Rights, Checks and Balances, Clause, Constituion, Contradiction, Deception, Disappear, Economy, Edict, Enslavement, Evidence, Exemplary, Federation, Foul, Founding Fathers, Freedom, Fugitive Slave, George Washington, God, Good, Government, Gratitude, Hamilton, Immaculate Conception, Incomprehensible, Indentured Servitude, Inhibition, Inhuman, Instituion, Institution, Interpretation, Issue, Jay, Kick, Knight, Language, Lesson, Liberty, Madison, Mankind, Necessary, Neglect, Offense, Oilver Ellery, Opposing View, Patrick Henry, Perfection, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Possible, Power, Protection, Ratification, Republican, Right, Roger Sherman, Slavery, Speck, Stain, The People, Thomas Jefferson, Trans-Atlantic Slavery, Transition, Unity, Wreck, Wrong
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A New Nation Born Pt II
The American story series continues…
A New Nation Born Pt II by Michael Doyle In the haphazard wake of 1776 There were so many constructs to fix The ancients had always taught Only a smallish sized republic should be sought Originally, the states had been the focus With power centered in their locus Leading to the Articles of Confederation Which made due as a national constitution Passing finally in the year of 1781 The words of friendship would have to be redone The primacy of states was overly protected To the point where our nation was barely connected Hysterical fear of centralized power Near paralyzed our nation's first hours Under its guise, the Northwest Ordinance passed Giving guidance for westward expansion as population massed Spanish and the British throttled our economy Underselling and bringing ruin to our country The impotence felt could have led us to implode As the pressure cooked into a tinder box ready to explode Daniel Shay led his quaint farmers rebellion Seeking mostly what was just and seen as a hellion The near anarchy led to Hamilton's review of deficiencies The Federalist Papers argued corrections sufficiently Within four months, the Convention yielded its Constitution With only the Ten Amendments left to their added disposition As Madison set America as the standard of republican government And by this, in no way, was pure democracy ever meant The very best of thinking that thinking could bear Always cautious least the political buyer beware Approaching the formation as the art of the possible That of which the wisest minds might be capable Showing the fullest of how a young nation matures Washington warned of too much reliance on human nature The Philadelphia Experiment was one of sobriety One that would combine powers balanced in legacy Madison's Notes of the Constitutional Convention Were offered up without any vain pretention But that all might gain a documented explanation Of what we thought best in governing our nation Virginia and New Jersey disputed representation Of how our nation would go about its legislation It became a compromise between population And the idea of fair say in an equal nation Compromise such as these simply recognize that conflict Will always exist between interests that might constrict Into unnecessary arguments between natural allies If entered into without thought toward compromise This desire for power is part of the human condition Even if ever able to provide its best rendition The best of these explosions are channeled into the drive And became the basis for how this republic did survive Working with the grain for the general good Is how our government is best understood September 17th is our Constitution Day For more than 231 years this has been our way The Constitution is functionally our national identity Unfolded through the days of our time as our legacy Establishing that we are a nation of all under law This is engraved as it is on the fabric of our history's wall (c) March 25, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged 1776, 1781, America, Anarchy, Ancient, Argument, Articles of Confederation, Balance, Bill of Rights, Born, British, Capable, Cause, Cautious, Centralized Power, Compromise, Conflict, Connection, Constitution, Constitution Day, Constrict, Construct, Convetion, Correction, Country, Daniel Shay, Deficiency, Democracy, Drive, Economy, Engrave, Equal, Expansion, Explanation, Explode, Explosiion, Fabric, Fair Say, Fear, Focus, Formation, Friendship, Function, General Good, George Washington, Government, Hamilton, Hellion, History, Human Condition, Human Nature, Implode, Impotence, Interests, James Madison, Just, Legacy, Legislation, Locus, Mature, Nation, Nation Under Law, National, National Identity, Natural Allies, New, New Jersey, Northwest Ordinance, Notes of the Constitutional Convention, Paralyze, Philadelphia Experiment, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Politics, Population, Possible, Power, Pressure Cooked, Primacy, Rebellion, Reliance, Rendition, Representation, Republic, Republican, Ruin, Sober, Spain, Standard, States, Survive, Ten Amendments, The Federalist Papers, Think, Time, Tinder Box, Understood, Unfold, Virginia, Wall, Westward, Wise, Work With the Grain, Young
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First Principles: All of Mankind Are Equally Bound By the Laws of the Creator To Do No Injury To Our Neighbors
“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. They are imprinted by the finger of God on the heart of man. Thou shall do no injury to thy neighbor, is the voice of nature and reason, and it is confirmed by written revelation.” – Samuel Adams
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Tagged Bound, Equal, Finger, First Principles, God, God's Law, Heart, Imprint, Injury, Mankind, Natural Law, Nature, Neighbor, Reason, Samuel Adams, Voice, Written Revelation
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Thought For the Day: Cleanliness and Order Are Matters of Education and Must Be Cultivated
“Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them.” – Benjamin Disraeli
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Benjamin Disreali, Cleanliness, Cultivate, Education, Instinct, Order, Taste, Thought For the Day
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Set’s Legacy
A continuing look at Egyptian myth:
Set's Legacy by Michael Doyle Only a mad man would steal Those things that a god would conceal Two bridges rigged with traps Cloaked in the veil of mystery wraps All power is centered on the sun Before which blaze all is undone An obelisk stretches into the skies In pretended reverence for blinded eyes Thinking himself famed before his history Set self-proclaims his own legacy As though deception cannot be undone Perhaps he forgot the truth of the sun A labyrinth of traps has been conceived But sometimes evil is less clever than deceived For light will always cast out darkness And love will always undo harshness The secret she whispers in his ear Even as her last breath draws near Is that death is not the end Life goes on eternal for lovers who are friends Even the strongest god cannot cheat death But the wounded lover's heart prays for breath A deal is struck to bring things to order Even as his heart in hers stares at death's border Life of a thousand years is not immortality And so Anubis is called to claim her mortality With ending grace, she can offer only her smile As she descends into journey by the banks of the Nile The dead to not speak to the living And for this dastardly deed there is no forgiving Staying on the path of the Nine Gates As this lover wishes to defy the fates (c) March 24, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Anubis, Banks, Blaze, Blind, Border, Breath, Bridges, Cheat, Clever, Cloak, Conceal, Darkness, Dead, Deal, Death, Deceive, Deception, Deed, Defy, Descend, Ear, Egyptian, End, Eternal, Evil, Eyes, Fame, Fates, Forgiving, Friends, God, Grace, Harshness, Heart, History, Immortality, Journey, Labyrinth, Legacy, Light, Living, Love, Lovers, Mad Man, Mortality, Mystery, Myth, Nile, Nine Gates, Obelisk, Order, Path, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Power, Pray, Proclaim, Reverence, Secret, Set, Skies, Smile, Speak, Steal, Strong, Sun, Thousand, Trap, Truth, Two, Undone, Veil, Whisper, Wish, Wound
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A New Nation Born Pt I
In a continuing cycle on America, we look at the Revolutionary War through England’s defeat at Yorktown:
A New Nation Born Pt I by Michael Doyle Let's have no sense of delusion The united states were but illusion Or, perhaps more of an aspired allusion As we began in the tatters of confusion From England's first offensive landing The British on Staten Island were commanding Against no great opposition but high flown words They must have felt victory coming in a blur America's military war though started at this offense Becoming one of exhausting our foe through defense This and allies such as France might bring exhaustion And in so doing birth our fine American nation George Washington rose to lead as our revolutionary General while the people united under him with loyalty His character and appearance before Congress one day Was enough to have the certainty that he had come to stay Washington accepted his position without pay Asking only to lead where needed by his good say He had been influenced by Cato of classic antiquity And had not great pretentions, only his integrity The first task at hand was that of forming his army One that would be credible despite its fragility This army would ebb and peak in its weakness and strength Throughout all the days of the Revolution's length In the war's worse winter of its ravaged discontent Thomas Paine's words rang out in their Common Sense Speaking on the American Crisis when summer soldiers Needed the strong encouragement to remain bolder Remembering the harder the triumph, the greater the glory Has always been the thrust and truth of the American story Without Paine's words we would have surely lost the revolution America should be proud and thankful for his contributions Christmas Eve brought Delaware's frigid night's crossing Without which and despite much perhaps over glossing The Hessians would not have been caught surprised at dawn And America's hope might have at long last been still born Three victories, particularly Saratoga case our best lot As the French began our ancient alliance never to be forgot This brought into the fray the might of the French Navy That tilted the odds to being fought all the more evenly Still, the bitterness of Valley Forge bore out in fragmentation And once again challenged and nearly lost of will for our nation Hard times came and hit as the freezing winter harshly bit The American forces drilled under van Steuben and would not forget Barely hanging on though, somehow our brave men got through Surviving and thriving until the end at Yorktown, paying dues The retreating British forces played "The World Turned Upside Down" And the rag tag army at last defeated the strong British Crown This had been a war of family against family quite simply Splitting our young forming nation in thirds over loyalty It was a war across the deepest fabric of our colonial society Changes on all levels, not just the top, were its legacy (c) March 24, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Allusion, America, American Crisis, Army, Bolder, Brith, British Crown, Certainty, Change, Character, Christmas Eve, Colonial, Common Sense, Confusion, Continental Congress, Contribution, Credible, Cross, Dawn, Defense, Delaware, Delusion, Discontent, Dues, Encourage, England, Even, Exhaustion, Fabric, Family, Fragility, Fragmentation, French, General, George Washington, Glory, Hard Times, Hessians, Hope, Landing, Lead, Legacy, Length, Level, Lost, Loyalty, Nation, Navy, New, Odds, Offensive, Pay, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Position, Rag Tag, Revolutionary War, Saratoga, Society, Staten Island, Story, Strength, Summer Soldier, The World Turned Upside Down, Thirds, Thomas Paine, Thrust, Tilt, Triumph, Truth, United States, Valley Forge, Van Steuben, Victory, War, Weak, Will, Winter, Words, Yorktown
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Set’s Blinding of Horus
Egypt has some fascinating legends from long ago. Some get slightly retold as time goes on.
Set's Blinding of Horus by Michael Doyle Few know the whole of the story A tale needed in all of its glory In a time before history began Egypt is where the gods lived with man All was as if a sort of paradise Out beneath the desert skies Even the promise of their lesser creation Who in their worship were promised salvation Able to manifest every sort of transformation These gods become beasts to rule this nation Osiris sat as the king of the Nile's life While Set, in isolation ruled in bitter strife Until the time came for Horus to take the throne While Set believed earnestly this was his own Testing the entirety of the Egyptian nation The wrath of Set was wrought in its black negation Still, the gods did not alone chase after destiny Mankind was also determining the world's history Violent and foolish in every sense of detail But in every way as much a part of this tale Never doubt that the gods are lesser than love Or, that the fight for love is the one thing of Even the gods in their glory shake and tremble Knowing that their own hearts are less than nimble Many gods were immersed in their vain story Singing songs and raising toasts in self glory There are after all, those bad reputations to keep So, it is rumored the willows grudgingly weep Tokens of gratitude from the least to the great An the poor each shall struggle against this fate Fighting for and against the truest wealth and legacy That all are part of a just god's vast family There at the coronation, the great Horus did bow down To accept the fullest weight of his father's crown That is, before Set in his darkness slayed Osiris So says the legend written on reedy papyrus On this day of darkness, peace was surrendered For the cause of lesser things to be tendered Ensuing in nobility's righteous attempt to fight Against Set of the black and most unholy night (c) March 24, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Attempt, Bad Reputation, Beasts, Black, Blind, Bow, Cause, Chase, Coronation, Creation, Darkness, Desert, Destiny, Detail, Doubt, Egypt, Family, Fate, Fight, Foolish, Glory, Gods, Gratitude, Heart, History, Horus, Immsrse, Isolation, Just, Keep, King, Know, Legacy, Legend, Less, Love, Man, Manifest, Mankind, Nation, Negation, Night, Nile, Nimble, Noble, Osiris, Own, Papyrus, Paradise, Peace, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Poor, Promise, Raise, Righteous, Rule, Rumor, Salvation, Self-Glory, Set, Shake, Sing, Sky, Slay, Song, Story, Strife, Struggle, Surrender, Tale, Tender, Test, Throne, Time, Toast, Token, Transformation, Tremble, Unholy, Vain, Wealth, Weep, Weight, Willow, World, Worship, Wrought
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First Principles: The Safety and Happiness of Society Are the Objects At Which All Political Institutions Aim and To Which All Such Institutions Must Be Sacrificed
“The safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must be sacrificed.” – James Madison, The Federalist No. 43
Posted in First Principles
Tagged First Principle, Happiness, Institutions, James Madison, Object, Political, Sacrifice, Safety, Society, The Federalist Papers
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