‘Tis Not The Fragrant Flower I Once Knew

‘Tis not the fragrant flower I once knew,

Pleasing to the senses,

Brightening the world with her effervescent palette.

Her silky petals crumble, fragile to the touch,

Falling like toxic ash in the putrid air.

She pollutes the earth that feeds her,

Poisoning her waters making them non potable.

Oh how her beautiful bouquet has mutated,

Turning ugly and angry in the midst of the garden.

Those not of her kind are suffocated as weeds,

Trampled, then pulled out by their roots.

Intolerant and hateful she has become,

The prick of her thorns has turned fatal.

Her beauty, now masticated by selfishness

Sets her on a path to destruction.

No longer prized, no longer admired,

She will be turned as mulch–

Into the soil from whence she came.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Growing Frustration

Growing frustration!

ISIL laughs in our faces

…America bleeds.

Again we are being used

Because we’re slaves to their oil.

The coalition–

Where are they in this struggle?

This fight should be theirs!

Instead we do their bidding

As hostages to these captors.

We’re fooling ourselves.

This isn’t just about safety,

It’s economics.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Fearmongers Abound

Fearmongers abound

Ebola, ISIS, healthcare

Scaring the masses

Nothing more than politics

Spread by corrupt media

“Fair and Balanced”, ha!

They all have an agenda

Manipulation

Not to report and inform

But to divide and conquer


~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

We Stand In Arrogance

We stand in arrogance,

Our own world–the only world

Feeling not the pain of others.

We are removed, unsympathetic, unconcerned,

It does not touch our lives.

You cannot touch video.

You cannot smell the written word.

You cannot taste their anguish.

Too far separated are we!

It is not real though we know it is,

Allowing oceans to separate safety from reality.

Sit quietly in the warmth and comfort of your homes,

Sip your coffee, piping hot and fresh,

Enjoy the bounty of the food that surrounds you,

Sleep well in the softness of your bed,

Watch your news,

Read your paper,

Pretend that all is right with the world,

But remember distance is merely an illusion.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Cries Come From The Hill (Tanka)

Cries come from the Hill

They’re coming to kill us all

Mystic Lindsey Graham

He doesn’t need any proof

He just reads his crystal ball

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Thoughts Are Provoking

Thoughts are provoking

When voiced in arrogant tones

A putrid venom

Raising the ire of foes

Stinging the hearts allies

A higher standard

We aspire to be held

This has always been

Yet we bully and coerce

We push, shove and we degrade

They aren’t our children

We are not their guardians

Ego says elseways

Sometimes it’s best to step back

Letting cooler heads prevail

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Born Of Arrogance (Tanka)

Born of arrogance

Ego–bullying nations

Cultivating hate

Surprised when once allies turn

Never learning from the past

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

With Irony I Look Back On July The Fourth

With irony I look back on July the fourth,

Commemorating separation from the British Crown.

Decrying aristocrats and their gorging worth

And the treatment of their subjects trampling down.

 

Open your eyes and look at us now,

Governed and judged by aristocrats galore.

Expected to beg, grovel and bow

Just as we did to King George before.

 

Over two hundred years we’ve learned nothing it’s clear

As again we submit to the court and its king.

Giving away what we should have held dear

For the promise of a golden ring.

 

This golden ring offered in hopes to divide

The right from the left I am sure

Confusing the masses with promises to provide

Answers to our problems through their cure.

 

But the cure is poisoned by their quest for greater wealth,

On the backs of those who can least afford.

Tricking them to believe by their dishonest stealth,

That there’s nothing but truth in their word.

 

Illusion and trickery is the game of the day,

Substance something long ago past.

Diverting ones blame is the partisan way,

Spewing venom as long as it lasts.

 

If truth does not sell then they coat it in lies,

Said long enough they’re bound to believe.

People are gullible say their political spies,

They’ll swallow whatever we conceive.

 

Free press is now gone in lieu of partisan hacks,

Towing their hate-filled party lines.

Convincing the audience that they’re watching their backs,

While raking in millions all the time.

 

With sadness I watch our republic disappear

Under the weight of corruption and greed.

Leaving the powerless amongst us I fear

To scratch and claw for all that they need.

 

Convinced they’re a burden and a waste of our time

Pretending that they don’t exist.

From their pit of despair alone they’re left to climb,

Should they fail it’s unlikely they’ll be missed.

 

America has lost the humanity it once had,

Trading it for profit and conceit.

Where helping one another was more than a fad,

It was a facet of what made us complete.

 

Deception is all part of the elites master plan

Pitting each man against his brother.

Feeding the masses as much fear as they can,

Blaming the cause on another.

 

Unless we take a stand, the ninety-nine percent,

Against the one percent we’ve allowed to rule us.

Expect nothing more than this we consent,

But to allow the bourgeois to fool us.

 

This my dear friends is my greatest fret,

With each and every fourth of July.

That under their thumbs, ever more we do get,

Until America shrivels up and dies.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Another Cold War (Tanka)

Another cold war

A game of chess that we lost

To an old rival

Who pays for incompetence

The citizens of Ukraine

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Flames of Discontent

Flames of discontent,

Smoldering under a blanket of Nero’s kindling.

Are we to become Rome sinking under our own gluttonous weight?

Are we to burn under the tutelage of lesser emperors?

Are we perhaps on the road to our own Ides of March?

Such things have crossed my mind almost bringing me to tears.

We did not always live under this oppression, under this division

It is not just the emperor we despise, but the assassins draw our ire as well,

Begging the citizenry to act out.

We act out in separation through a system proving flawed, proving broken,

Causing us to wilt to more of the same.

Could it be that we are destined to be consumed by the inferno,

A later day Rome cast into the annals of history,

Reduced to ash sparked by our own inaction?

Perhaps it is best that we start anew,

As the youth of our “Grand Experiment” is exhibiting its fractures.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~