The Fourth of July
More than just fireworks
Barbecues and beer
This is Independence Day
Take time to reflect
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
Who am I she said
Looking beyond reflection
Mirror spreading lies
It cannot see the inside
The place where my beauty lives
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
With eyes shut tight
Shuttering out distractions
While bathing in silence
Breathing becomes the world
Something so basic
So instinctual
Unavoidable
A simple complex action
To truly hear it
To feel it
All else seems to float away
The natural world becomes white-noise
Replaced by the spiritual
Who is to say which is reality
Is not the world what we believe it to be
Our souls as integral as the air
As life sustaining as water
My thoughts float as if dreams
Drifting into consciousness then out
As quietly and softly as they appeared
Until there is nothing
Nothing but the sound of me
Blood coursing through my veins
The beat of my heart
Each breath in rhythm
Energy melding with the natural
I am one with the world
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
Image Credit: azdot.gov Wall fast approaching
Haboob swallowing daylight
Welcome the dust bowl
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Author’s Note: Monsoon season is here in Arizona and these walls of dust are quite frequent visitors. What an awesome sight.
-
In search of answers
Man’s spiritual quest for truth
Leads to the unknown
Is there Heaven or Hell
Or are we the creators
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
Stories told by men of old,
Of secrets held in waters deep.
Giant squid that swallow ships,
And Moby Dick his raith did reap.
~
What visions lie in minds of men,
Of evil born in godless Hell.
To take their lives to Neptune’s grave,
From mast and plank to death they fell.
~
Darkness tricks doth surely play,
As do voyages far from home.
Not much does it take for insanity to set,
Cause to pray for a watery tomb.
~
A seaman’s life is a life of great pride,
Tough are the souls that partake.
Many a man has gone down with his ship,
Never once was it thought a mistake.
~
Honor and duty were the marks of these men,
Hearty and rugged and strong.
Not so very smart in the schoolmaster’s ways,
Baked by the sun to a swarthy bunch they belong.
~
Though the days of mast and sail have long gone,
No less are the dangers at sea.
What horrors await in its watery depths,
Forever shrouded in mystery.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
Every emotion
Combines to make us human
Though at times painful
It is inescapable
A sign..what it means to live
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
The mind of the heart
Travels the road it’s chosen
Ne’er second guessing
For the act of questioning
Would only lead to regret
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
-
How joyous the day equality overcame hatred,
Though with sadness I ask, “Why was it even necessary?”
We had not…no we have not moved beyond prejudice!
Replacing one group of brothers and sisters with another does not absolve us!
Oh yes! The faces are different, but the name is the same
And this–we call this progress?
Do not think me ungrateful…I am proud,
Though disheartened by so slim a margin,
Yet this is a triumphant day to be sure.
Still–there is so much softening to be done to the callous heart.
“All men are created equal” so proudly declared by so many
Is still, but a dream should you not fit their mould of convention.
Speaking as though preference of the heart is chosen
Shows their narrowness of mind.
It is not choice, it is ingrained by nature!
It is not a flaw nor is it an abomination,
It is who they are, just as you are how you were born.
That which you do not wish to understand should not draw ire,
But instead your silence…with our profound appreciation.
The time of state sanctioned intolerance is in it’s death throes
Though this alone will not change those ignorant of mind.
Yes, this battle will rage on,
For many, long after they are gone,
But know dear friends that bigotry and hate can not prevail
In the presence of humanity and love.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Authors note: I had been debating whether to write this poem firstly, because I am not a member of the LGBT community and secondly, because I don’t pretend to speak for or have any first hand knowledge of what they have gone through, but then I thought why not, we are all human beings, we all came into this world in the same way and we will all leave it the same way. I have been an observer of this struggle for equality for a very long time and quite frankly found it disgusting that it ever existed in the first place. To add to the distastefulness is the fact that public polling, for the longest time, showed that more than 50% of those polled were in favor of continuing state sanctioned discrimination. In America, we struggled for our freedom from oppression and proudly proclaim in our Declaration of Independence that “All men are created equal” and yet this freedom from oppression and equality only held true if you were a God fearing heterosexual apparently. This ideal was an absolute disgrace. So long as the parties are adults, what right does any human being have to prevent another human being from marrying the one that they truly love? Religious institutions may choose not to marry same sex couples before their altars, but they surely have no standing to prevent them before the law. Of course this is simply one man’s opinion, but I stand behind it wholeheartedly. Congratulations to all of you, it has been a very long time coming and you justly deserve this landmark win.
