Image credit – mindbodygreen.com
Kindness shown others
Returns in greater numbers
Enriching the soul
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Kindness – Haiku
Monthly Archives: January 2013
A Prickly Passion – Haiku
The thorn of a rose
The petals soft and silky
Draw blood to find love
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Love’s Symphony – Haiku
Image credit femalepreneurlounge.com
Haunting symphony
Plucked strings and blown horns in tune
Play for a sad heart
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Hostile Nature
Image credit – thewaterq.com
The exploit of nature
Indiscriminate as if it has no consequence
Acting as master as if it were all under control
When all is well, you belittle the tree huggers
Crucifying compassion and caution as a gauntlet to progress and profit
Until progress yields to disaster
Igniting the public relations machine
Blame is never placed with self but on others
Minimizing damage to the image is paramount
The environment expendable
Poisoned water, tarballs, dead zones
Headlines today soon to be forgotten by the gluttonous masses
Creatures of habit bribed by unscrupulous liars
Clearly the cleanliness of air and water are of only temporary concern
Instant gratification is worth sacrificing the progeny
These behemoths think nothing of the living world
It is here to be conquered at any cost
To be stripped bare of the resources it has so long protected
Coal, oil, gas
Eighteenth century fossils lobbied to buy the people’s government
Elected officeholders answerable to none
These scoundrels throw our prospects to the wolves
Tearing at the plunder as if a rabid pack
The citizenry kept appeased by hollow promises lays in coma
Promised to reap the rewards of the spoils
But at what loss must the gain aspire
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Goodbye to a Fickle Friend
I’ve blamed you for my failures
My lack of progress and time
I’ve blamed you for my regrets
Even before I knew you
Denial is such a fickle friend
Used as a crutch to discredit one’s shortcomings
This is nothing more than a charade
A game I have played for a lifetime
A look inside bore the reflection of truth
It was me all along
My own worst enemy
Incessant procrastination has held me back
Over-thinking every minute detail has crippled me
Accomplishments lay out of reach to no one else’s fault
It was never you at blame for my failures
Nor my lack of progress or time
Regrets were never realized through you
I have deflected my imperfections long enough
The mirror has parlayed a harsh reality
Leaving me exposed to the frailty that has been the catalogue of my life
With eyes splayed wide, the path before me is clear
Freeing me to pursue all that I’ve spent a lifetime avoiding out of fear
For this I am forever grateful to you
In spite of me
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Bittersweet Welcome Home
They come back to no fanfare
No parades
No cheering crowds
No ticker tape
Forgotten but for the relief of their loved ones
Scars are not always etched in blood
So cuts are unseen and more debilitating to the flesh
They hide all they have seen and heard
The things that changed them
Smiling as they always do
Cordial though their language has become harsher
Colored with the profanity perfected through months living in squalor
They do not talk in details as they prefer to forget
Driving the pain and memories deep below consciousness
They pray them never to return
Their minds standing strong in defense of sanity
What do we say to them
What do we do for them
I’ve asked myself this a thousand times
Hold their hands
Embrace them
Love them more than you have ever loved them
Comfort them when they cry
Reassure them when they flinch
Hold them tight when dreams shatter their sleep
They are not who you knew before
Their lives have been forever changed
Engendered through terror and courage in the face of unknown enemies
We must be there for them
This is all I or anyone can do
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Poverty – Haiku
Do you feel thankful
Given the bounty possessed
Remorseless in greed
~~
Riches plaster walls
The smell of money lingers
Eyes closed to the poor
~~
To show charity
Draws empathy to the plight
Still poverty lives
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
I Am
Image credit – optionalpha.com
This imperfect surface
Skin, hair, nails is not me
I am in my head
Emotion, hopes, dreams, ambitions
Wrapped in this disposable package
No bottle can contain what can’t be seen
Cut me and I bleed, red and warm
Still you’ve taken nothing from me
I have not been altered
Love, compassion, disgust
Strong as before, they did not seep from the wound
It may scar, raised and ugly, but I surely will heal
These afflictions are but temporary
Simple setbacks that only strengthen my character
You trip me
The fall leaves me scraped and bruised
Black, blue and painful to the touch
This is not the first time I have fallen
Most certainly I will fall again, this is part of life
Scraps heal and bruises will disappear without a trace
And I will continue on, a better person for the experience
Passion, sadness, tenacity, empathy
These help define the real me to the world
I am not the face you see on the street
I am not the clothes that I wear
I am not what I present to the naked eye
What I am is so much more
Masquerading behind what you observe
Look deeper, discard what you see
Take your time, a surprise awaits you
The treasure I offer is there for the taking
I will show you the real me if you are bold enough to ask
So ask, be bold
You will find that I am emotion, hopes, dreams, ambitions
I am love, compassion, disgust
I am passion, sadness, tenacity, empathy
And I am so much more
Not all that I am is good
I am imperfect in my humanness
Constantly evolving into who I want to be
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Ravaged By Nature
Sullied winds chatter chimes lashed to greyed beams
Warped and splitting with age, appear none too long for this world
With each ring an angel must surely get their wings
As remuneration for a melody so heavenly revealed
~~
Steps crippled, squeal as mice in traps are bound to do
Bowing under the burden of the weary traveler
Fortitude ingrained, revives the weakened conscripts
Whose preparation has made them cordial adversaries
~~
Tawny hinges weathered by sun, beaten by the wind cry in pain
Remorse etched into their hammered finish confesses their age
Chagrined by subjugation, the door slams
Announcing defeat to it’s audience of none
~~
Dark but for dust pirouetting through muted shafts of light
Stirred by shuffling boots, tattered and worn thin by extended employ
Creaking under foot, floorboards rebel in unison with their owner
Shrunken and contorted from the weight of existence
~~
Ping of coils break the stagnant silence of the vessel
Sagging lumpy seat replaces a once firm cushion
A quiet ah, escapes from the lungs in expiration
Sense of relief but for the strain of fabric
~~
Cracking joints echo of broken glass in freefall
Legs wobble by exhausted mortise and tenon
Laden with rings, table balances precariously in an uncomfortable dance
Unsteady and unsure, time has reaped it’s revenge
~~
Tired well beyond youth, mortality returns from holiday
Waiting to reveal what lay interred beyond these walls
Neither refinish nor repair prolong to eternity
Only temporary and finite are the workings of men
~~
Man conspires with the dwelling in cosmic ways
Each subject to the ravages of the lifetime moment
Materially morphing into a shell of the original creation
Inevitably conceding to nature’s crowing fate
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Fisherman’s Welcome
Feather floating noiseless to the sand far below,
To rest on dunes erupting in granulated waves.
~~
Their spartan populous withdrawn by storm and tide,
Only to reappear like immigrants in distant lands.
~~
Screeching cries of gulls flock shatter silence,
Angels tipped in black searching for the days next meal.
~~
Insatiable appetite wills winged soldiers onward,
Scavenging for fish or for crab or for worm.
~~
Fisherman’s friends are the dunes and the gulls,
A beacon to the nearness of home.
~~
The boat is a shepherd towing gulls in it’s wake,
Swooping low to put eyes on the catch.
~~
Port is in sight, but this does not deter,
Showing neither fear of man or of sea.
~~
A nod of the head and a knowing smile shared,
Eases pain from their back breaking chores.
~~
Loved ones await braving inclement weather,
To welcome the unsung with open arms.
~~
The next home-bound crews will be greeted in like,
With the dunes and the gulls as their mates.
~~
This is how it must be and how it always has been,
For granted these men do not take.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 