Monthly Archives: March 2013

Hail To The King

We are living in a land of broken dreams and promises,

Those with means, rush to deny what should be obvious to the rest,

Ha! It’s the Land of Opportunity, for whom I ask?

Common is it for the common man to grow then stagnate,

Trapped in the tracks of his caste.

Not for lack of desire, but of meaningful opportunity.

Crawling up and up only to find the steps paved in jagged glass,

Barefooted from birth we are cut and scarred with each step,

No red carpet nor ivory towers lay in wait.

Instead pittances to pacify the masses are offered to give hope,

Promises that they too are worthy of abundance,

These promises ring hollow…leaving us with the taste of sand,

While the oligarchy scoffs from their luxurious boardrooms.

Cries to the state offer little relief,

As they themselves are counted amongst the elite,

Leaving the rest to scrounge for scraps in their rubbish heaps.

This was not the promise of this once great nation,

Old money, family money, dynasties, unfettered corporatism…greed!

Safeguards dreamt by the founders have been tilled and buried,

Bastardized by modern men with corrupt ideals.

Shall we once again embrace…

The monarchy!

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Youthful Imprudence – A Haiku

Image Credit: findery.com

Image Credit: findery.com

Warmth of early spring

Rekindles past imprudence

The joys of our youth

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Forsaking Our Future

I wrote this poem some time ago about our governments handling of education.  I continuously hear from both sides of the aisle that in order to strengthen our nation, we need to invest in our children’s educations.  Well, I’m sure that I am not alone in voicing disgust with our elected officials.  In every budget discussion, you will hear them crying to reduce funding for public education.  I’m sorry, but you can not invest in education while cutting its funding, it does not work.  There are many, especially on the right, that would like to see public education destroyed in favor of privatization (if they had their way everything would be privatized), but myself, my parents and their parents before them as an example, all are/were products of a public education and have done quite well for themselves just as many of you probably have.  This piece is my way of voicing my frustration with our system of partisan politics using a farming analogy.

~~

Crops lays abandoned,

Overrun with the sprawl of weeds.

The young ripe for the picking,

Left to rot in the noonday sun.

Government touts the virtue of our crops,

Pleading for us to do more,

While refusing to help cultivate.

“It’s just too expensive.”,

Saying we need to invest more,

As they chop, chop, chop,

Down the ivory halls.

Instead we placate our appetites,

Feasting on imported produce from distant shores.

Why do we not sow our own?

The seeds lay before us,

Waiting for the planting.

All the while, seasons come and go,

Leaving sun swept earth,

Arid and untended.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Syrian Injustice

Led by a despot

Innocent blood stains the streets

Cries for help ignored

Are the lives lost all for naught

Genocide begs a response

~

If not us then who

Each passing day brings more death

More graves to be dug

More mothers weeping their loss

The regime must abdicate

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Comedy and Tragedy – A Tanka

Living this stage show

Scripted as Heaven or Hell

So Shakespearean

At times its a comedy

At others a tragedy

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Faithful To The End – A Tanka

Walk alone with me

On these streets I’ve paved with gold

Take my outstretched hand

Offered as a sign of love

And a bond never broken

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Embrace the Child

Soulfully embrace

The laughter of your children

For innocence fades

Replaced by cynicism

And angst in adolescence

If left to fester

Cherish the inner child

Promote it’s beauty

This will lead to a full life

Filled with joyful abundance

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Equality – A Haiku

Image Credit: washingtonpost.com

Image Credit: washingtonpost.com

To level the field

Rewrite the class equation

Now we are equal

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Warm Profit – A Tanka

What happened to spring

Window panes covered in frost

Melt in summer’s heat

Global warming is a myth

When profit is your motive

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

What Awaits

I do not pretend, to know the truth,

Anymore than you…or the sun…or the moon,

Proving nothing short of ignorance otherwise.

~

What I do know, is that death is inevitable;

Whether life be a second, a minute or decades,

Of this I am certain.

~

Just as I am certain of my origin;

Beyond progeny…beyond paternity,

My essence existed before that of this earthly vessel,

And will certainly continue beyond it’s worldly demise,

Our human science has assured.

~

I am, however steeped in uncertainty,

Uncertain of what lay in wait after this finite adventure.

~

Will I be swallowed by consuming blackness,

Drifting endlessly…disjointedly into nothingness?

~

Will I be welcomed at Heaven’s pearled gates,

Greeted with open arms into a paradise?

~

Maybe Hell hath set it’s sights on my mortal soul,

Repaying me for the sinful life I’ve led?

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Or will my soul join with others

To live once again,

In the vessel of another of the newly-born?

~

These all, are questions of faith,

Your faith…my faith,

Questions for which I have no answers.

~

After a lifetime of curious inquiry,

I hold no greater insight into the afterlife,

Than were so endowed in me at my birth.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~