Tag Archives: anxiety

I Long For Silent Sleep

I long for silent sleep
Where dreams take holiday
And nightmares cower in their tombs.
Oh how I have prayed for the abolition of my demons
Banishing them back to Hell,
But I am weak and afraid.
They claw at me in my waking hours
And draw blood in my slumber.
I am but a frightened child
Bowing to their every whim.
To fight them can only encourage pain,
A pain suffered more than once o’er’ these many years.
So I deny the monsters that haunt me;
Pretending that all is well
While I await their next onslaught.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Smell Of Baked Bread

The smell of baked bread

Like perfume of memory

Grandma at the stove

O’ how joyful was childhood

When things were much simpler

Adulthood does dull

Senses fade to the background

Turning cynical

Happiness replaced by stress

O’ how soon we do forget

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Negativity (Acrostic)

Nightmares, perhaps a chemical imbalance

Edge me ever closer to the precipice.

Granted, I have had a favorable life;

Adorned with friends, family and children,

Time, health, home, finances have been kind.

In spite of all this, happiness eludes me.

Venom spews from my lips quite freely

Instigated by a darkness living deep within.

This I must tame if I am to find lasting peace

Yet I question daily, my ability to do so.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

I Escaped With My Skin (Sonnet)

I escaped with my skin though tattered and torn

Yet feeling far less than whole.

Far less like me than when I was born,

A piece of me it seems to have stole.

 

I ponder this mystery for reason I’ve not,

No finger can I place on the cause.

Giving my attention giving all that I’ve got,

In spite of my inherent flaws.

 

This feeling I have is an odd one indeed,

There’s nothing I can pinpoint to blame.

My mind the enabler melancholy it feeds,

Insanity is clearly its aim.

 

For sanity’s sake I must surely let go or suffer the wrath of its grip,

Still deep in my heart I certainly know this only a momentary slip.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I Feel Different These Past Few Days

I feel different these past few days, wrapped in joy

Tolerance I found where before there was none.

At first I thought, perhaps this was a ploy,

That is until the other changes had begun.

.

Anxiety and jealousy seem much more subdued,

A struggle I’ve struggled with all of my years.

These issues I’d gnash on as if they were food,

Were simply alternatives to facing my fears.

.

Patiences I lost as I grew out of my youth,

Seem to be returning and rearing their heads.

All because I found what I believe is the truth,

Trepidations settle as my old skin is shed.

.

I think what I’ve found is the beginning of peace,

Not the kind that we show towards our fellow men.

No–the kind that’s achieved as our inner turmoils fleeced,

May I never return to that troubled place again.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

PROMPT: Mood

By We Drink Because We’re Poets – Poetry Prompt #1

Anxieties Hold (Tanka)

Anxieties hold

Plunging headlong in darkness

Of my own doing

Tending to over-think things

Can only bring me trouble

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

In The Daylight I Sit (Sonnet)

In the daylight I sit–tis dark as night

Not void of sun as one might think.

Emotions cloud every thought and sight,

Depressions hole I claw and sink.

.

Sadness without good cause inflicts;

Caped in black to draw out life.

Pain…such pain this joyless fix

Cuts like a razor–damn bloody knife.

.

Out of the blue this Satan creeps,

Slinking slowly to fill my head.

Of little comfort is nightly sleep

At times a prayer be better dead.

.

All is not lost for this too shall pass

Though certain that this time will not be the last.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Spirits Suffer Under Winter’s Wrath

Spirits suffer under winter’s wrath,

Testing one’s fortitude to it’s last.

With anger, depression, anxiety and stress,

Leaving our sanity in quite a mess.

One glimpse out the window, on an icy chill

Leaves us with nothing, but time to fill.

Stir-crazy or claustrophobic it matters not,

Being caged as animals, seems an evil plot.

Too dangerous to cross thresholds spiteful path,

Daring us to tempt fate with her frosty laugh.

Those who are bold may chance demise

And look at her face through watery eyes.

Hoping against frostbite or something worse,

That leaves you stiff under Jack Frost’s curse.

So maybe being cooped up isn’t so bad,

Compared to all that you could have had.

Hopefully being stuck with the ones you love

Doesn’t turn out to be such a terrible rub.

Just know that soon this too shall thaw

And leave you more joyful in springtime’s awe.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Caligula Though Tyrant He Be

Caligula though tyrant he be, is not so unlike my chaotic mind,

Burned to the ground like Nero’s Rome, a cure oh so difficult to find.

Cries to the almighty gods, heaven sent go unanswered,

Eating at my senses and sanity like a cancer.

Why is it that the clarity of thought so often goes awry

When focus eludes me no matter how I try.

Is this a curse–a symptom of a troubled body and soul,

I know not, still it leaves me feeling less than whole.

Most fortunate to me is that it never long lasts,

A matter of hours or days is all it takes to pass.

Yet this is of no less a concern and satisfies me little,

Stunting my spirit like knife to wood wittle.

Alone I am not of this I am certain,

As this diatribe ends and I bring down the curtain.

Praying that soon this too will vanish,

Returning to me clarity from whence it was banished.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

A New Day, A New Light Dawns

A new day, a new light dawns,

No more do the darkest clouds mask my life,

Shrouding me in gloom so marshland thick.

Crying out to be saved ushered no hand,

Leaving me to crawl, bloodied and battered from my despicable pit.

No hope nor blame was there outside of self–

Though not for lack of trying.

How easy it was to shine blame on another,

Justifying this rancid condition through mirrored fault.

Oh how misplaced and misguided were my intentions!

I need look no further than my reflection to find the culprit,

The thief that steals away at the slightest hint of uplifted spirit.

For now he has been banished back to his cell,

‘Til next his jailer be tricked into releasing him.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~