What Lies On Distant Shores

What lies on distant shores,

Buckets, pigeon holes, troughs for segregation.

Language, dress, birthplace do not an enemy make.

Where came this bitter misdirection?

Religion, culture, song, dance,

These are things of man’s creation.

Strip naked man and woman–

Lay them bare of their mortal inventions.

Confiscate their language, dress, birthplace,

Expropriate their religion, culture, song, dance,

Take all they have of this world;

What have they left?

Blood and skin and bone;

That which crumbles with inevitable death.

Hopes and dreams, emotions;

intangibles that define humanness.

Air, food, water, shelter;

That which sustains us.

Boundaries of man hold no sway over these.

We are but one species,

Born and consumed in life,

Until the day we return home

To the dust from whence we came.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Comments

14 responses to “What Lies On Distant Shores”

  1. writersdream9 Avatar

    Fantastic!! Thank you for your wonderful words!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      My pleasure and thank you for taking the time to read it. :)

  2. Olufunke Kolapo Avatar
    Olufunke Kolapo

    What a thought provoking piece!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you so much, I’m very glad that you think so.

      1. Olufunke Kolapo Avatar
        Olufunke Kolapo

        You are welcome :-)

  3. Olufunke Kolapo Avatar
    Olufunke Kolapo

    Reblogged this on olufunkekolapo's Blog.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you so much for the re-blog, that is very kind of you. :)

      1. Olufunke Kolapo Avatar
        Olufunke Kolapo

        My pleasure :-)

  4. Tone Avatar

    Such a great poem!

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Thank you very much my friend.

  5. Lucid Gypsy Avatar

    It seems that some want everyone to be as they are – how boring that would be.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Indeed it would. :)

  6. stephendallen Avatar
    stephendallen

    Bravo! A lesson that too many forget or never learn.

    1. Dom DiFrancesco Avatar

      Sadly you are right, I wish it were not so. Thank you very much.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.