Forest walk–crisp night,
Moon reflecting off snow white.
Pure as God’s Angels
Welcoming the virgin birth
Into this diluted world.
So short a time is the beauty unspoiled;
Where footsteps have not yet soiled.
Until man imparts his bloody mark
Corrupting nature’s pristine gift.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A buffeting wind lashes at my person;
Crashing waves spit salty spray, soaking me to the skin,
I’m cold…much colder than this July day
This is freedom…sugar sand liberating my calloused soles.
~
A dream of floating out to sea,
Bare chested–bronzing in the noonday sun.
Drifting past jetty and buoy on my way to shores unknown.
Modern distractions left unguarded shoreside
To be gathered by the random wayfarer.
I have no need for these where I go.
How peaceful without ring or correspondence.
~
Hello jailbird gull, my only companion,
Keeping watch whilst the coast fades to a distant memory.
Farewell my feathered friend as I drift on gulf stream current,
Nothing but the gentle slosh of waves
To subdue the rejuvenating silence.
~
I never noticed the elegance of the virginal cumulus above me,
The pearl blue backdrop sky,
So much is lost to the rigors of our daily commune.
~
As day retreats from the night,
I am consumed by the star lit blanket.
So vast is the sky, so numerous the stars
All but lost amongst civilization.
In a moment of clarity I could almost see the man-on-the-moon,
Smiling at me in his mad-dash from crater to crater.
~
The chatter of the gentle humpback wakes me from my slumber,
Gracefully arching above the surface
For a life-giving breath.
Taking his waiting fin, we converse telepathic;
No fear, no anxiety do we impart.
~
Could there be anything more tranquil on this ravaged earth?
Awakening from this waking dream, so many times envisioned,
I long for it’s solitude,
It’s raw beauty,
Where I’m free.
~
~Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
~
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wrote this one over the summer while I was reading Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass…he inspired me, I just love Whitman’s style.
How wondrous this world
Lost among our modern distractions
Beauty of the mountains
Joy in the raging rivers
Mystery of the oceans
Lushness of our forests
Cast aside by youth out of boredom
Zion, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon,
Great Lakes, Salt Lake, Crater Lake,
Giant Redwoods, Joshua Trees, dwarf pines,
Nothing but passing scenery
Have we truly progressed
Ignoring that from which we came
That to which we will someday return
How wondrous is this world
Some of us will never know
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
In simple beauty
Peace and fullness can be found
Draw on its power
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A lifetime spent forging ahead,
Ever closer to the raging river.
Tumultuous and wrought with fear
I approach the fjord fraught with peril.
I squint to spy a shore
The bank far too distant to see.
What awaits–Oh that is the question
Asked before, asked again eternally.
Its in the book of Testament Old and New,
Torah, Pistis Sophia, Koran among the few.
Through the ages told to look, to believe
And yes! Ye shall find what ye need,
But it is not so clear, nor has it ever been,
I can’t know what awaits on that far off shore.
Trusting there is more than what I’ve seen,
Like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night
I must trust, I must believe through faith I will live,
For without what is left, but a story with a tragic end.
This cannot, must not be, never created nor destroyed,
I have been forever and will be forever more.
Mortal science has proven the mystics of yore,
There must be life,yes–I must live when I cross the river
As spirit abandons the bodies mortal core.
With each step I take, another step closer,
Sooner than later I will know, I will see what awaits;
Try as we may we cannot escape our human fate.
A fate long sealed by Adam’s rib named Eve
What else can we do, but trust and believe
That all is not lost, that living is not futile,
Lest we spend our days in tears as we grieve.
I refuse! I will not grieve nor give in to hopelessness,
This by the grace of God I confess
To waste not one breathing moment in sadness
Instead to walk in the ways of gladness
‘Til my time on earth is through.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A stammering fool
Hypnotised by azure eyes
I am left speechless
Words seem so inadequate
For beauty not of this earth
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Encircled in Autumns chilling grasp,
Warmth of tea cup in my hands I clasp.
Just cool enough for a sweater in evening,
No animosity toward Summers most abrupt leaving.
Crunch of the leaves and the crisp in the air,
Young and old attitude, devil-may-care.
Breathing in freely a new lease on life,
Renewing loves vows of husband to wife.
Truly beauty exists in the wane of the year,
Another season born, greeted with cheer.
As winter approaches and darkness takes hold,
We all settle in for long months of cold.
Please do not obsess and never you fear,
Take comfort in the arms of those you hold dear.
For this, as surely as winter won’t last,
Time and time again as done in the past.
Daily the sun rises and Spring will return,
A lesson in grade school we all must have learned.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Painful as it is
We face our mortality
In all that we do.
Just waking up to morning,
Walking a city sidewalk,
On a holiday,
Swimming on a summers day;
The fullness of life
By virtue of our living
Must eventually end.
Do not waste this time
Wallowing in past regrets;
Leave that to the fool.
Instead cherish each moment
For its utter perfection.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Graced with true beauty
Beyond purely physical
You are my Venus
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
We did it as kids
No modern apparatus
Born with all we need
Two legs and a desire
The beauty and grace…running
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 