Category Archives: Poetry

Humanity – A Tanka

Image Credit: flickr.com

Image Credit: flickr.com

Material wealth

Blinding to what surrounds you

Swallows compassion

If permitted to consume

And supplant humanity

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Hands

I remember the hands,

Dark, calloused, weathered,

Like the old leather of my hand-me-down Buster Brown’s.

Skin the shade of olive;

Disfavored for their Napolitan roots,

Unafraid of hard work,

Unrepentant for the right and wrong that they’d done.

They played jacks,

Scuffled in the schoolyard,

Held the hand of their first love

All before the start of the First World War.

Trembled in fear,

Shouldered a carbine,

Took their first life,

Comforted their comrade as they passed on

During the ravages of the Second World War.

Returned home to the embrace of the wife left behind,

Prepared to resume peaceful work,

Lifting crates,

Tossing sacks

Unloading train cars,

Driving trucks

All to support a wife and newborn baby.

Cradled silently to his breast,

Calmed when she cried,

Held her hand on the first day of school

Waltzed during the father daughter dance

Clapped during graduation,

While holding two jobs to make ends meet.

Toiled never ceasing as the family grew,

Their work never eased.

Time bent and broke them making it more difficult,

But nary a complaint did they utter.

Finally age made the decision,

Putting them out to pasture,

A much needed rest ensued.

The years were kind,

Allowing them to pursue their passions,

Until clasped in prayer,

The Lord called them home.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I – A Tanka

I…Am who I am

Unison of mind, body

Made of my image

I…Am who I say I am

Think I am, believe I am

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Invisible Wings – A Haiku

Image Credit: artknappsurrey.com

Image Credit: artknappsurrey.com

Invisible wings

Flitting– Sweet floral lovers

Courting hummingbird

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Cast Out These Demons

Cast out these demons

That torture my wretched soul

Like the bane of Job

Carrying on by faith

Though physically tormented

~

Am I strong enough

A question I’ve often asked

Getting no response

I fear that I’ve been given

Much more than this man can bear

~

Destined to struggle

Though I know I’m not alone

This holds no comfort

As I wander through this world

Defending against evil

~

The mortal evil

That plagues all men from within

Instilled at their birth

Threatening to damn our souls

To the immortal hellfire

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Though Earthbound

Though earthbound, I am lost amongst the sky blue,

Intricately woven into this tapestry that is nature.

~

Miniscule in comparison to the whole I am no less vital.

~

Without being, this picturesque world would be unrecognizable.

~

What I see as familiar would cease to exist without that

blade of grass, that oak tree, the bird singing in the eaves,

the lake where I skipped stones, the house that I grew up in,

my kindergarten teacher, the teachers that tolerated me,

the bus driver, the postman delivering the mail,

the plowman keeping our streets clear in winter.

~

Without any of these what would this life look like;

Much different I propose.

~

Without you or I what path would our parents lives have taken;

Surely a far cry from the one our history tells.

~

Lest we question our significance in this place and time

we should not!

~

We are each a thread in this fabric,

Significant and wonderful and cardinal by our simple existence.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Challenge – A Tanka

Shadows call me out

Challenging my fortitude

Terrorizing me

My desire to withdraw

Must be beaten by courage

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I Think Of You

I think of you…

When I’m alone

In a crowded theater

Just before I close my eyes

~

I see you…

In the face of every stranger

Standing beside me in the mirror

Lying next to me while I sleep

~

I feel you…

When we are apart

When I caress a picture you

In my most restful dreams

~

Know I love you…

‘Til my dying day

With every fibre of my being

With every breath I take

~

Simple things to express the depth of my love

Never ebbing, heartfelt and passionate

Engrained into my soul

My soulmate, my lover, my friend

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Tale Of The Jersey Devil – A Dark Poem

The wind it howled through dark of night

Father stammering in paralyzing fright

He hid me deep in closet bare

Eyes wide open through slats I stare

~

The growl it came on putrid breath

I feared the end a gruesome death

Father held tight as the door it rattled

Futile to fend an unnatural battle

~

Slowly the door it did part from it’s frame

Demon’s eye I see glowing red as a flame

Father held tight, just as tight as he could

But he knew in short order his strength fail it would

~

The beast it did shriek as father fell to the floor

Claws round his throat he threw father at the door

With a horrible thud bleeding and prone

Father lay silent and I cowered alone

~

I could see cloven feet moving this way and that

Flapping leathery wings as if clipped from a bat

It spit as it growled from between fang laden jaws

Destroying our cottage with yellow curled claws

~

It’s face was not human, nor of beast of the earth

Larger than a man in it’s height and it’s girth

The horns that did sprout from the top of his head

Certain in a moment I surely be dead

~

It clawed at the closet breaking slat after slat

‘Til the drool from it’s fangs fell inside pitter-pat

I curled in the corner as best that I could

Live another night I prayed to God that I would

~

The stink of the devil almost more than I could bare

As lice and maggots fell from his feathers and his hair

With one longing screech as spit ran down the wall

I closed my eyes and held my breath as the satan’s tail did fall

~

Then as fast as it came it turned and did run

Back into the pines from whence it did come

Leaving claw marks and stench behind in it’s wake

This night we were lucky for no life did it take

~

Battered and bloodied was my father its true

No worse was I for the terror gone through

This story’s been told, handed down through the ages

Written in books filling volumes of pages

~

Still there are those who refuse to believe

‘Til receive they a visit on one dark moonless eve

Jersey Devil of the pines unannounced makes his call

The season matters not winter, spring, summer or fall

~

The son of Mrs. Leeds, cursed long before birth

Banished to the forest amongst pine and marshy firth

Spawn of the Devil to live immortal life

Its best to guard your sons and daughters and your wife.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

This poem is based on the Jersey Devil, the longest lasting piece of lore in the state of New Jersey, originating in 1735. This website, WeirdNJ gives one rendering of what the Jersey Devil is supposed to look like along with a good bit of information about it’s origination and actual sightings of the devil.

I grew up in this area and lived there until about 12 years ago. It is an absolutely beautiful area along the southern coast of New Jersey, that is of course unless it is nighttime and you are lost in the Pine Barrens.

Heart Of New York

Car horns, sirens, shouts

Muffled by flimsy windows

Third floor apartment

Crowds rushing uptown downtown

Skyscrapers and tenements

Highlight the landscape

Architecture old and new

Music and culture

Time Square, Central Park, New York

The greatest city on earth

~

~~ Dominic DiFrancesco ~~