Monthly Archives: May 2013

Answers

Answers–sought after for a lifetime,

Ebbing and flowing,

Never concrete.

~

Arms outstretched,

We reach…reaching…

Still always just out of our grasp.

~

Ignorant, we think our quest has ended,

Circumstances change,

What once was gospel dissipates.

~

We think ourselves wise,

But mere fools are we,

Not knowing that we know nothing.

~

Time has proven our innocent arrogance,

Dumbfounded,

We lumber on.

~

Still this is not new to mankind,

As antiquity portends,

Locked in this eternal struggle.

~

In our end we may finally realize,

We are not so unlike those that came before,

Seeking, yet failing to understand what this all means.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Mindscape

Thoroughfares, city streets, horns, whistles, sirens,

Skyscrapers, Bodegas, concrete, glass, marble,

Architectural mix of contemporary and antiquity,

Pedestrians clambering for every inch of real estate,

Bumping and banging without so much as an apology,

Cabbies double parked, limousines glaring in the hazy sun,

Waiting to pick up self-important snobs dressed in Armani,

Street signs, no turn on red, traffic signals,

Amber– speed up, red– stop…maybe, watch the cross walk,

Smog, noise, yelling, hustle, bustle, pushing, shoving,

Litter, smells, sweeping, scrubbing, dirt that never leaves,

Obnoxious, angry, rude, arrogant, impulsive, disrespectful,

Hurried, oblivious, blind to the surroundings,

Clutching at purse, coveting wallet, pickpocket, snatcher,

Trees, bushes, fragrant flower boxes, out-of-place,

Warm, generous, loving, lost in the clutter,

The cityscape, not so unlike the cacophony of my mind,

Thrusting good and evil, to and fro,

A kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells, touches,

Molding who I am, what I think and who I will become.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Into A Darkness – A Tanka

A glassy eyed stare

Into the heart of your soul

Yields me no solace

Swallowed into a darkness

Which has never seen the light

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Humbled By A Stranger

Talk of family

Words did not come easily

But I understood

Though our languages differ

We spoke as if long lost friends

You Colombian

Plagued by crime and poverty

Low pay your reward

Yet still you love your country

Love it with all of your heart

Me American

My badge of entitlement

Worn outward with shame

Embarrassed by my complaints

You my friend have humbled me

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

This Solitary Tree

This solitary tree,

Utterly alone amongst the brown grasses.

Nary a leaf can I see,

iIgnored by the traveling masses.

~

No birds find cause to seek shelter,

No buds rise to show you love.

Dry and brittle in the noonday swelter,

Limbs raised to Heaven hoping for rain from above.

~

What have you done to be shunned…an outcast,

Sentence too cruel for such an innocent one.

Punishment levied you’d hoped you’d outlast,

With each passing day a new days begun.

~

I look on with sorrow and the shedding of tears,

As I see myself in you, one and the same.

With scarcely a friend after all of these years,

I’ve no one to place, except me with the blame.

~

I too just as you have my soul laid out bare,

A wish for companionship to stay.

Broken and weak I expose to the air,

The longing for love I keep locked away.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Beautiful Flower – A Tanka

Beautiful flower

How delicate your petals

Under soft caress

Anr adoring world awaits

To love you as I have done

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Casual Observers

Are we not all but casual observers

This game…though not such a game that governments play

What is it they do not tell us in the name of our own good

Who are they to decide what serves us best

Are these not our lives, our futures, our hopes, our dreams

They toy with these for their own folly

For the sake of national pride we label others as evil

Without looking within at our own flaws

Puffing chests, bellicose, with an arrogance befitting fools

Answering tit-for-tat with ever greater threats of destruction

This chain of ceaseless violence, when will it subside

Years of pain, years of suffering have taken their toll on this weary nation

I ask, what have we won, show me…show us

Do we need another war, more bloodshed of the innocent,

Further sacrifices by our brave men and women delivered as pawns

for subversive economic gain

Isn’t it time to seek peace after so much loss

And break this cycle of violence.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Modern Immigrant

Borders porous fence

A thousand miles…freedom

Better life awaits

If only we are not caught

Sent back to our poverty

Dreaming the same dreams

From different time and place

No ships, no Ellis Island

Only a desert

Separating a new life

From a life lived in squalor

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

The Heart Grows Fonder – A Tanka

The heart grows fonder

Absence, distance amplify

Plucking at the soul

Loneliness tears me hollow

I long for your warm embrace

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~