Dom DiFrancesco

Musings of an Aspiring Author and Poet

Recent Posts

  • Hostile Nature

    pollution
    Image credit – thewaterq.com

    The exploit of nature

    Indiscriminate as if it has no consequence

    Acting as master as if it were all under control

    When all is well, you belittle the tree huggers

    Crucifying compassion and caution as a gauntlet to progress and profit

    Until progress yields to disaster

    Igniting the public relations machine

    Blame is never placed with self but on others

    Minimizing damage to the image is paramount

    The environment expendable

    Poisoned water, tarballs, dead zones

    Headlines today soon to be forgotten by the gluttonous masses

    Creatures of habit bribed by unscrupulous liars

    Clearly the cleanliness of air and water are of only temporary concern

    Instant gratification is worth sacrificing the progeny

    These behemoths think nothing of the living world

    It is here to be conquered at any cost

    To be stripped bare of the resources it has so long protected

    Coal, oil, gas

    Eighteenth century fossils lobbied to buy the people’s government

    Elected officeholders answerable to none

    These scoundrels throw our prospects to the wolves

    Tearing at the plunder as if a rabid pack

    The citizenry kept appeased by hollow promises lays in coma

    Promised to reap the rewards of the spoils

    But at what loss must the gain aspire

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Goodbye to a Fickle Friend

    I’ve blamed you for my failures

    My lack of progress and time

    I’ve blamed you for my regrets

    Even before I knew you

    Denial is such a fickle friend

    Used as a crutch to discredit one’s shortcomings

    This is nothing more than a charade

    A game I have played for a lifetime

    A look inside bore the reflection of truth

    It was me all along

    My own worst enemy

    Incessant procrastination has held me back

    Over-thinking every minute detail has crippled me

    Accomplishments lay out of reach to no one else’s fault

    It was never you at blame for my failures

    Nor my lack of progress or time

    Regrets were never realized through you

    I have deflected my imperfections long enough

    The mirror has parlayed a harsh reality

    Leaving me exposed to the frailty that has been the catalogue of my life

    With eyes splayed wide, the path before me is clear

    Freeing me to pursue all that I’ve spent a lifetime avoiding out of fear

    For this I am forever grateful to you

    In spite of me

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Bittersweet Welcome Home

    They come back to no fanfare

    No parades

    No cheering crowds

    No ticker tape

    Forgotten but for the relief of  their loved ones

    Scars are not always etched in blood

    So cuts are unseen and more debilitating to the flesh

    They hide all they have seen and heard

    The things that changed them

    Smiling as they always do

    Cordial though their language has become harsher

    Colored with the profanity perfected through months living in squalor

    They do not talk in details as they prefer to forget

    Driving the pain and memories deep below consciousness

    They pray them never to return

    Their minds standing strong in defense of sanity

    What do we say to them

    What do we do for them

    I’ve asked myself this a thousand times

    Hold their hands

    Embrace them

    Love them more than you have ever loved them

    Comfort them when they cry

    Reassure them when they flinch

    Hold them tight when dreams shatter their sleep

    They are not who you knew before

    Their lives have been forever changed

    Engendered through terror and courage in the face of unknown enemies

    We must be there for them

    This is all I or anyone can do

     

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Poverty – Haiku

    poverty

    Do you feel thankful

    Given the bounty possessed

    Remorseless in greed

    ~~

    Riches plaster walls

    The smell of money lingers

    Eyes closed to the poor

    ~~

    To show charity

    Draws empathy to the plight

    Still poverty lives

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • I Am

    Image credit - optionalpha.com
    Image credit – optionalpha.com

    This imperfect surface

    Skin, hair, nails is not me

    I am in my head

    Emotion, hopes, dreams, ambitions

    Wrapped in this disposable package

    No bottle can contain what can’t be seen

    Cut me and I bleed, red and warm

    Still you’ve taken nothing from me

    I have not been altered

    Love, compassion, disgust

    Strong as before, they did not seep from the wound

    It may scar, raised and ugly, but I surely will heal

    These afflictions are but temporary

    Simple setbacks that only strengthen my character

    You trip me

    The fall leaves me scraped and bruised

    Black, blue and painful to the touch

    This is not the first time I have fallen

    Most certainly I will fall again, this is part of life

    Scraps heal and bruises will disappear without a trace

    And I will continue on, a better person for the experience

    Passion, sadness, tenacity, empathy

    These help define the real me to the world

    I am not the face you see on the street

    I am not the clothes that I wear

    I am not what I present to the naked eye

    What I am is so much more

    Masquerading behind what you observe

    Look deeper, discard what you see

    Take your time, a surprise awaits you

    The treasure I offer is there for the taking

    I will show you the real me if you are bold enough to ask

    So ask, be bold

    You will find that I am emotion, hopes, dreams, ambitions

    I am love, compassion, disgust

    I am passion, sadness, tenacity, empathy

    And I am so much more

    Not all that I am is good

    I am imperfect in my humanness

    Constantly evolving into who I want to be

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Ravaged By Nature

    Sullied winds chatter chimes lashed to greyed beams

    Warped and splitting with age, appear none too long for this world

    With each ring an angel must surely get their wings

    As remuneration for a melody so heavenly revealed

    ~~

    Steps crippled, squeal as mice in traps are bound to do

    Bowing under the burden of the weary traveler

    Fortitude ingrained, revives the weakened conscripts

    Whose preparation has made them cordial adversaries

    ~~

    Tawny hinges weathered by sun, beaten by the wind cry in pain

    Remorse etched into their hammered finish confesses their age

    Chagrined by subjugation, the door slams

    Announcing defeat to it’s audience of none

    ~~

    Dark but for dust pirouetting through muted shafts of light

    Stirred by shuffling boots, tattered and worn thin by extended employ

    Creaking under foot, floorboards rebel in unison with their owner

    Shrunken and contorted from the weight of existence

    ~~

    Ping of coils break the stagnant silence of the vessel

    Sagging lumpy seat replaces a once firm cushion

    A quiet ah, escapes from the lungs in expiration

    Sense of relief but for the strain of fabric

    ~~

    Cracking joints echo of broken glass in freefall

    Legs wobble by exhausted mortise and tenon

    Laden with rings, table balances precariously in an uncomfortable dance

    Unsteady and unsure, time has reaped it’s revenge

    ~~

    Tired well beyond youth, mortality returns from holiday

    Waiting to reveal what lay interred beyond these walls

    Neither refinish nor repair prolong to eternity

    Only temporary and finite are the workings of men

    ~~

    Man conspires with the dwelling in cosmic ways

    Each subject to the ravages of the lifetime moment

    Materially morphing into a shell of the original creation

    Inevitably conceding to nature’s crowing fate

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Fisherman’s Welcome

    Feather floating noiseless to the sand far below,

    To rest on dunes erupting in granulated waves.

    ~~

    Their spartan populous withdrawn by storm and tide,

    Only to reappear like immigrants in distant lands.

    ~~

    Screeching cries of gulls flock shatter silence,

    Angels tipped in black searching for the days next meal.

    ~~

    Insatiable appetite wills winged soldiers onward,

    Scavenging for fish or for crab or for worm.

    ~~

    Fisherman’s friends are the dunes and the gulls,

    A beacon to the nearness of home.

    ~~

    The boat is a shepherd towing gulls in it’s wake,

    Swooping low to put eyes on the catch.

    ~~

    Port is in sight, but this does not deter,

    Showing neither fear of man or of sea.

    ~~

    A nod of the head and a knowing smile shared,

    Eases pain from their back breaking chores.

    ~~

    Loved ones await braving inclement weather,

    To welcome the unsung with open arms.

    ~~

    The next home-bound crews will be greeted in like,

    With the dunes and the gulls as their mates.

    ~~

    This is how it must be and how it always has been,

    For granted these men do not take.

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Buying the Farm

    FarmRuined

    No more will fields of cotton or corn stalks wave

    Where winds of progress sow their seed

    Generations weep the sweat they gave

    Betrayed by faceless corruption and greed

    ~~

    Agrarian ways sold to the highest bidder

    Weakened by a nations diminished resolve

    Ill effects they fail to consider

    Of a livelihood they so nonchalantly dissolve

    ~~

    Our sustenance awarded to foreign lands

    No thought given to our founding traditions

    So many necessities taken out of our hands

    Forcing this debtor nation into submission

    ~~

    John Deere once green sits plagued with rust

    Barns and silos like monuments sit vacant

    Conglomerate farmers betraying our trust

    Their harvests destined for the seafront

    ~~

    Farms and fields are no longer held sacred

    Mere property to be bartered, bought and sold

    Paid not to plant so many acres left arid

    There is more money in building homes we are told

    ~~

    We’ve sold off our future for a profit it seems

    Self-sufficiency a thing of the past

    Our founders would tremble at the love of excess we deem

    Prized more highly than that which will last

    ~~

    The road on which we travel is a perilous one its true

    Its course for our own sake we must alter

    Lack of fortitude to do what we know we must do

    To a second place status we will falter

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Mistress of the Sea

    Barnegat Lighthouse - New Jersey - USA
    Barnegat Lighthouse – New Jersey – USA

    An elegant lady stands a silent watch

    Never taking rest or wavering in her duties

    Decades of battering by nor’easter, ice and tropical gale are for naught

    She may be worn and tired, but she remains strong in her resolve

    Wind swept torrents are no match for her refinement

    An A-line of red and white graces her elegant stony figure

    Utilitarian in dress and form make her no less lovely

    Many a man has looked upon her with starstruck affection

    Standing tall, her crown highlights her magnificence

    With eyes crystal clear and bright, she was born to see the unseen

    Beholden to her unwavering radiance are those forever in her debt

    She has comforted countless souls lost in nights hollow embrace

    Surely treachery amongst the shoals would spell certain doom

    Taking their hands, she leads them to certain safety

    Welcoming ports embrace them by her blessing

    Returning them back to family and loved ones unscathed

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

  • Lady San Estrella

    Dark and exposed after eons under the sculptor’s chisel

    Laid naked to the elements and the seasons

    Sharp, jagged and formidable, few dare confront you

    Either out of fear or rightful respect

    ~~

    A few fools dare scale your rocky crags in quest of your treasures

    Cutting deep into your subterranean veins

    Drawing out your blood and secrets through violent means

    Leaving hollows only to be left abandoned once bled dry

    ~~

    Still this does not detract from the adoration of your admirers

    The saguaros raise their arms to the sky in praise

    Brave faced monolith, you offer comfort in spite of the desecration

    Providing shelter to those that dwell under your protection

    ~~

    Your strength and bravery are none diminished

    Inspite of the riches stolen from your purse you hold your head high

    Taking revenge on those with careless intentions

    Showing no remorse in light of the pains you’ve endured

    ~~

    It could be said that nature has been cruel to you

    Yet you have not taken this to heart

    Your life can not be counted in mere mortal years

    Since you have outlived those that laid claim to your precious abundance

    ~~

    Our prayer is that your future holds you in appreciation and respect

    No more to cut and scar your rough hewn beauty

    You are a wonder to behold

    To be looked upon with reverence as the creator intended

    ~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~