What Have We Become

What have we become?

Both sides are fatally flawed.

We–the laughingstocks!

Politics are the cancer

Eating our nation alive.

Are we to perish,

Fading into history

Like Rome’s empire;

Remembered for its grandeur

Through its crumbling ruins?

Perhaps it’s too late,

Our experiment–a dream

May evaporate

Becoming just a footnote

In the annals of mankind.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

I Never Really Knew Her

My breath floated silently toward Heaven.

I watched as it disappeared

Blending seamlessly with the cloud filled sky.

With upturned collar

I stood with loved ones feeling completely alone;

Such a strange feeling this is.

I had known her for almost fifty years,

But suddenly came to realize…

I scarcely knew her at all.

Self-absorbed with my life, my own family,

Thinking she would always be there

I never thought to ask who she was,

What her life was like,

Even where she born;

It just never occurred to me to ask

And never came up in conversation.

My picture of her had always been the same,

White hair, as white as newly fallen snow,

Her cheek, soft and smooth to the kiss,

Kind and joyful, yet quiet as a mouse;

Always taking a backseat to the love of her life.

Sadly, her time has now passed

Taking with it the story that was her.

I am left to gather up snippets,

Like those tossed on the cutting room floor

Selectively shared second hand.

My chance has passed to hear her story

In the truth that can only come from living it.

No fault can be placed, but on me

So on me alone the fault must lie.

By divine retribution, I stand here,

In the icy chill of winter to bid farewell

To one I loved dearly,

More dearly than she would ever know

And with profound sadness I’ve come to realize

…That I never really knew her at all.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

We See The Light Ahead

We see the light ahead through splintered shores,

At once familiar and comforting is now gone.

Man labors with back and hand in attempt to restore

All that growing up we cherished most fond.

This eternal fight we fight against nature’s mother

Seldom permits us a chance to win.

An emboldened adversary unlike any other,

One we’ve struggled against since time began.

Still we battle her in the most reckless of ways

Settling on shores in storm fronts path.

Destruction and death like the end-of-days;

Consequences suffered by the masters wrath.

As time passes–in weakness we forget

Under crystal skies and the calming blue sea.

Rebuilding what was lost without worry or regret,

Ignoring natures warnings by choosing not to flee.

As history has proven this will happen again,

Crushing what we make like a house of cards.

Then just like before we will struggle and mend,

Sweeping away the timber and shards.

What do we expect when we challenge the Almighty

By rebuking the call to heed his demands.

Instead doing what we please–never contritely,

Choosing to suffer rather than follow his commands.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

No One Left Behind (Tanka)

No one left behind
The motto of a nation
Turned political
We must bring our loved ones home
Not sacrifice them as pawns
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Curse

Prostate on the fetid jungle floor,

Draped in the red and orange ornamental cotton robes of a monk

He lay mesmerized by the tablets shambolic scribble.

What could this possibly mean?

Hands shaking as he held the tablet, deep down he knew.

Though menacing, with his henna facial markings,

He had an uneasy feeling that he could not diffuse.

Fraught with fear, he reached for his decanter of Holy Water,

Thinking he could protect himself from this Pagan curse..

Chanting, the lowly monk prayed that the grace of his God would save him,

But alas, the synthesis of prayer and paraphernalia could not shield his mortal soul.

Gasping his last breath and with devotion still in his failing heart

The lowly monk rose with tablet raised overhead and struck,

Shattering the curse over a rock that lay before him,

Praying that the tablets curse with him would die

Never to plague mankind again.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie - Wordle #11

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Wordle #11

Prompt: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Wordle #11