Category Archives: society

Defeated And Detained

Defeated and detained;

His cries for mercy mercilessly ignored.

What warrant had they

To choke a life into lifelessness.

Was it out of hate and fear

Or is being black in America a crime.

We have not come so far as we’d like to believe,

Reliving the violence of Selma over and over again.

The wounds have been reopened,

Bleeding from what long ago scarred.

But there was no healing,

Just poison bubbling beneath the surface.

Erupting, toxins asphyxiating,

Pleas of “I can’t breathe”, echoed ‘til silent.

Guilt determined before innocence,

At the knee of those sworn to protect.

Judge, jury and executioner,

Hiding behind a badge.

Will there be any justice?

A question asked many times before,

Or will George Floyd be forgotten 

‘Til the next autopsy?

Depravity

There is a coldness,

A heartless side to man.

Feelingless, bloodless, soulless,

Human life means nothing.

Life and death are mirages,

Something to be spared or taken,

Sacrificed or saved it matters not.

Cane is buried deep within our Abel,

Hate within outward love.

In each of us there is darkness;

We hide it, pretend it does not exist,

But we know it exists.

Headlines scream it daily,

Good becoming evil,

Sickness throttling the well,

Peace shattered by bloodletting.

We are animals

Living for the moment,

Consequences be damned.

Our claim to be of higher form

Is the mirage;

Drawn from our imagination,

Our denial our ignorance.

Advanced! We are delusional;

Little more than protozoa

Living for the sake of life,

Eating solely to live,

Never thinking about tomorrow,

Thinking not of anyone but ourselves.

Wickedness courses through our veins;

We cannot stop it,

We cannot purge it.

We are beasts 

Living our chemistry

Through blood, death and depravity

With nary a care.

~*~*~*~*~

~~ Dom DiFrancesco ~~

Thirty Years Married (Tanka)

Embed from Getty Images

Thirty years married

Five weeks working together

Under the same roof

We haven’t killed each other

It must be true love

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My wife is still working from home, likely until the beginning of next year. I am back in the office now as of May 4th. It is a small office with lots of room between each of us for social distancing. The poem is light hearted as my wife and I get along very well and always have. As a matter of fact, since I’ve gone back to work, I’ve received a couple of messages telling me how much she misses me. It was very nice to hear even though we knew the time working together would only be temporary.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~~ Dom DiFrancesco ~~

If…

If a tree falls in the woods…,
Do we hear it?

If a boy cries wolf,
Do we reprimand it?

If politics contradict science,
Do we believe it?

If a lie is told over and over,
Do we ignore it?

If a line is drawn in the sand,
Do we cross it?

If we won’t think for ourselves,
Do we deserve it?

If we refuse to learn from the past,
Do we repeat it?

Question authority as a thoughtful man.
Trust the facts when facts support,
For ignorance can never replace truth.

Pandemic (Acrostic)

Pain and suffering, black verse white
Another reason to divide us
No one is immune, young or old the death toll rises
Denial won’t make it go away
Eventually, it will strike home
Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends everyone knows someone
Ignorance is not bliss
Crises are real as the mass graves reveal.

 

~~ Dominic DiFrancesco ~~

Democracy Dashed Upon The Rocks

Democracy dashed upon the rocks

Lighthouse guide has fallen dark

Mayday, mayday calls the flock

Two by two like Noah’s ark

 

Captain’s crew has blindly haled

Commands barked sure to kill

Near time win will long time fail

When keel doth rupture on sill

 

By headwinds sail to Davy’s doom

Tsunami comes rushing in

Neither hold nor deck is safety’s room

They’ll pay for ignorance sin

 

Histories ne’re kind to pirate thieves

Nor saber tongued silvery fools

While innocent victims losses grieved

Their anger grows til it’s cruel

 

Lashing out victims surely will march

The port be their final stand

Skyward they gaze backs and necks upwards arched

Victory’s sweet and it’s grand

 

Criminal fools feel they’re immune

Til their pokes raise the ire and rage

Common man pushed to the brink of his doom

Turns upon captor and cage

 

Freedom they hail til finally set free

WIth blood on their calloused hands

Keepers grotesque lay twisted at feet

The weaker take control of the land

 

Postponing their fate is futile at best

They’d be better to meld with the times

Thinking this day they’ll withhold from the rest

Soon they will answer for crimes

 

~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~

Fraught With Peril This Thin Line – Rebel

Fraught with peril this thin line

    Once crossed will wither and die

Not so wide, but ever so fine

    Our elected few seem eager to try

 

Mad men with power where nary have tread

    Kindle the fires of conspiracy and hate

Ever so close the majority dread

    A nation’s short history left to fate

 

This cresipise so deep we fear to fall

    Bottomless pit will never end

Left to the tyrants this funeral pall

    To torments wrath we writhe and bend

 

What’s to be gained by ignorance hold

    Believing the fools venomous bite

Taking their word more precious than gold

    That is til exposed by reasons light

 

Hope springs eternal as the old saying goes

    May the ruinous seed be cast back to hell

Sooner or later nobody knows

    Righteousness waits the toll of the bell

 

This sickness not us wailed from the heart

    A cure lies ahead in the booth

Now is the time never too late to start

    The lever must suffocate their truth

 

Time to rebel dead ahead in our hands

    Never more urgent then now

Traitors that poison the mind and the land

    Must be buried by the blade of the plow

 

Rise up! Rise up! You sheepish bunch

    Stand up to the villain’s rusted sword

Truth lies before you much more than a hunch

    Trample to dust his evil hoard

 

If not for yourselves for your progenies sake

    Stiff your spine before time slides away

Your souls are their plunder and more they will take

    Mark these words spoken this day

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The New Year Comes

The New Year comes

Amidst fireworks and gunfire.

Another corrosive year

Under the auspices of a fool.

Nothing to change for the better,

Nothing, just more pain,

More divisiveness and heartache.

Watch as what’s unknown

Collapses around our knees.

Impetuousness and egotism

Drive us to the brink of war.

Alone…we’ve alienated our friends,

Left them wondering what we stand for

While we wonder what we stand for.

We’ve lost our souls,

Sold them to the devil himself

While he sits laughing

And watching the insanity of Hannity

On his big screen.

Drowning in birdless tweets,

We live under the thumb of a child

Who treats our sacred institutions

As schoolyard rules to be trampled upon

For his own pleasure.

The New Year comes

And here we are ,

On the second spin of the merry-go-round

With a circus clown at the controls.

God help us…again.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Sound Of Taps

The sound of Taps, the saddest song

It rings within my ears

A song without a single word

Can bring these eyes to tears

 

This solemn song too often played

Remembered on this day in May

The sacrifice of souls so brave

They’d have it no other way

 

Freedom fought so hard the cost

Enjoyed by all today

Taken for granted far too oft

WIth beer and barbeque and play

 

Take the time to say your thanks

Out of respect for those who gave

May the thankful close their ranks

Laying flowers upon their graves

 

A simple thanks I offer with heart

For a son who served with pride

To mothers and fathers of fallen souls

I’m thankful that mine is alive

 

No greater the tragedy remembered this day

Than the loss of a child or parent

I’ll never forget their ultimate sacrifice

Though their deaths are found so abhorrent

 

This simple poem is all I can give

To express to all how I feel

I thank you, we thank you from the heart

Just know that our pain is for real

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~