The storm rages on
Drowning out the voice within
~~ Helpless to fight it
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Category Archives: Poetry
On This Somber Day
On this somber day
Where allied blood once ran free;
I am reflective.
Wondering…what it was like
Staring down death and bullet.
Alone, but not so,
Brothers shoulder to shoulder
On that distant shore.
Seventy years on it lives
In those few that still remain.
You can see their pride,
You can see their welling tears
As if yesterday.
Thinking about friends they’d lost
As the price for our freedom.
Remember their dead.
Many scarcely got to live;
Few had said goodbye,
None had regretted the cause
That changed world history.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
D-Day (Acrostic)
Dying on a beach named Omaha
Determined to win no matter the cost
All for the restoration of Europe’s freedom
Yellow ribbons do not do them justice
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Pain You Cannot See
Pain you cannot see,
Can be heard–
In the wavering of words,
Can be seen–
In the worried expression.
Reliving the past in waking dreams;
Speaking to the invisible that seem so real;
Returning to the present awash with anger.
Ravages of war do not always leave visible wounds–
For the visible may be treated with scalpel and stitch.
That which is unseen may be the most devastating of all,
Lasting a lifetime,
Tormenting, demonizing, incapacitating,
Shattering the spirit.
We see this on the streets,
We see this in the shelters,
We see it on the cardboard signs
And in the tin cans held out by dirty hands,
No place is immune.
These are the ones we turn away,
Diverting our eyes,
Ignoring them as a nuisance,
Wishing they would just go away.
Does not their sacrifice grant them better?
They gave when called,
Offering life and limb;
Permitting us the pursuit of our happiness.
Yet what do we offer in return?
Nothing but contempt.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Sun Smiles On Me (Haiku)
Sun smiles on me
Uplifting my darkened soul
~~ I have been reborn
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Smoke Wafts O’er The Granite Mountainside
Smoke wafts o’er the granite mountainside;
Black and thick in a murderous haze.
Sulfur taints the crusty putrid air
Drowning out the glorious scent of honeysuckle and pine.
Babbling brooks once vocal no longer babble;
Their voices silenced by dam, drought and pollution.
Dry and cracked beds mar earths aging face
Leaving tinder for natures fiery furnace.
From my hilltop perch a murky brown sludge chokes the valley floor.
What hazards are these we should ask,
Though no one cares but for convenience and profit.
As we seek cause and cure for man’s maladies
Might we look no further than ourselves,
Our misuse of natures gifts,
Our burning of fossil fuels,
Pollution of our most precious resources–air and water,
Is it any wonder we are plagued with incurable disease?
Yet even the slightest attempts to change course
Are stalled by the profiteers gauntlet.
Science–when used for their benefit is gospel,
But dismissed as leftist propaganda
When the planet and climate are on stage.
Look beyond your four walls,
Breathe deeply,
Feel the burn in your tainted lungs,
Wipe the tears from your stinging eyes and look if you can,
Is this the vision of paradise that you sought
For you and your children?
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
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 ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 