Tag Archives: child

Blood Pools – A Tanka

Blood pools on doorstep

Watered down by mothers tears

Limited air strikes

In the end it matters not

A child’s death is permanent

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Dry Tears

Dry tears dull her cheeks

No more left has she to cry

All has been taken

Her life, joy and only child

Squandered by a tyrant’s hand

~

Our inaction screams

Falling upon bloody ears

Looking like cowards

We cower in our corner

Pompous in isolation

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Our Future – A Tanka

Lay your head down child

Know that you are our future

Your shoulders hunching

Punishment for excesses

We were too weak to curtail

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Simpler Time

To lay in the tall grass

Soaking up summer sun,

I recall a time so much simpler than today,

Carefree, up at dawn, out, exploring,

Seeking out new worlds, new adventures.

Calls for lunch went unheeded,

There just wasn’t the time.

Mother knew, mother always knew

This was part of the plan.

Friends and imagination consumed,

My world for the taking,

King, conqueror, soldier

How I long for those days.

Today kings become tyrants,

Conquerors commit genocide

And soldiers really die.

Games of youth were just silly fun,

There were no consequences,

There was no death, no tyranny.

At the end of the day we’d shake hands,

Smile and run home for dinner,

Dreaming of tomorrow,

Dreaming of our next conquest

From the safety of our beds.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

The Battle Rages

A battle rages between enemies within,

Subduing the child since time began,

Struggle for acceptance will soon begin,

At times overdone and out-of-hand.

~

A slow painful process is underway,

Fraught with peril and mines aplenty,

The push to maturity and out of play,

Mistakes oh yes, there are sure to be many.

~

Think back in time to the youth of your day,

Try as you might in with grown-ups to fit,

Seen and not heard was the phrase they would say,

The child that you are in the backseat you will sit.

~

Then in your teens, think you’re woman or man,

You speak as an equal, interrupt, interject,

Try as you might, try as you can,

You want to grow up meaning no disrespect.

~

Natural progression as we try to mature,

Neither a child nor yet an adult,

Please let us in we beg, we implore,

As we try to fit in without insult.

~

This thing called maturity both painful and hard,

We all have been through it ourselves,

Tripped on our tongues and cut on a shard,

They’d understand looking back at themselves.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Pitfalls – A Tanka

So many pitfalls…

Worry ceases not with age

No matter our hope

In times of pain and struggle

If not us who protects them

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Man-On-The-Moon

The sun sets as the moon does rise,

Orange and red sherbet skies.

The man on the moon from slumber awakes,

To bid goodnight no trouble he makes.

~

Fox and hound and little child,

End of day for meek and mild.

Dreams of tomorrow another day,

To hunt and lop and innocents play.

~

The Infant feeds at mother’s warm breast,

Before for the night she lay her down to rest.

Pray and hope she sleeps through night,

And not awake ‘til first morning’s light.

~

Too much to ask though it may be,

Mother and Father and angel three.

Dream of slumber full night refresh,

A full eight hours, “My God we’d be blessed”!

~

Then Fido he barks must be time to go out,

Jarred from our sleep we scream and we shout.

Climb out of bed quiet as a mouse,

Tiptoeing gently across the floor of the house.

~

Open the door and out Fido goes,

Angel stirs, then whimpers then bellows.

“Now look what you’ve done!” at Fido we yell,

How long she’ll be up only the clocks time will tell.

~

Then off to her room, the mobile turned on,

With a “shhhh” and a pat back to sleep she has gone.

Nary a sound back to bed we did slink,

Blanket pulled tight, we dared not to blink.

~

As our heads hit the pillow our hearts they did slow,

We’ll give this thing sleep another college go.

No other sounds nor stirs or cries,

Another few hours of gratefully closed eyes.

~

That Man-On-The-Moon must have been up to no good,

Our night he disturbed way more than he should.

As sunlight streamed in to welcome the new day,

Tonight’s another night, what more need I say.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Metamorphosis (For My Daughter)

Faces in the crowd,

Nameless, peering through me,

Recognizing every minute flaw,

Silently laughing,

They whisper behind cupped hand,

Eyes dart in my direction then away,

Not so very subtle,

They think I’m oblivious,

But I see them,

I know what they are thinking,

I know what they are saying,

These things are not who I am,

One look in the mirror bears this out,

My reflection is unique,

Beholden only to me,

Blonde hair,

A shade unlike any other,

Ivory skin,

Imperfect, but my own,

Neither stick thin nor tall,

Comparisons to runway models are unfair,

Artificial life forms,

Moulded from botox and silicone,

Airbrushed to flawless perfection,

Idols born of magazine covers and centerfolds,

An unrealistic expectation for any young woman,

To live up to this cosmetic fraud is impossible,

Beauty is only skin deep,

Physical and momentary,

I am so much deeper than the shallowness of this pool,

If you could only see my essence,

The storm raging inside me,

Hopes, dreams, passions, opinions

Swirling like a typhoon,

A perfect storm,

Waiting to erupt with explosive force,

Breaking out of this cocoon of fear,

Leaving shards of this scared little girl,

In pieces on the floor,

Rising out of the wreckage,

A stronger more self-confident woman,

Able to speak for myself,

Defend my views,

Hold my head high in the face of adversity,

To cower no more,

Behind a mask of insecurity,

My opinions matter,

Commanding respect,

Regardless of whether we disagree,

I am an equal,

And I demand to be treated as such,

No longer subordinate,

My age, race and gender should have no bearing,

Yes, I may fall, but I will not break,

Yes, I may occasionally fail, but failing does not signal inadequacy,

I will sprain and bruise,

Scars left as reminders of experience gained,

But you must grant me this right of passage,

Allowing me to grow and become independent,

Crawling out from under my parents wings,

To stand unaided as if for the very first time,

An infant in a brave new world,

Opened up to be lived and explored,

I will voice my politics,

This is now my right,

Using my vote to shape the world I live in,

Unafraid to stand up,

Even when ridiculed by those of differing views,

This is their right as it is mine,

I will pay them no head unless civil,

Extremists hold no sway over me,

My hopes and dreams stand before me,

With open arms waiting to embrace,

I have the power of mind and body,

To grasp and hold all that I desire,

Be it business, education, the helping of others,

All these things are within my reach,

It is not for you to determine my passion,

You do not live within me,

But you benefit by my being,

I will break out of this shell,

Becoming all that life has endowed in me,

If I will just let me go.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Silly Boys and Girls

Silly boys, they laugh and they giggle,

Silly girls in their skirts they do wiggle.

The girls laugh and point at the giggling boys,

As they make funny noises playing with their toys.

The girls turn away when they see the boys gawk,

The boys chase the girls with the speed of a hawk.

The boys yell and taunt as the girls run away,

The girls round the schoolyard away from them they stay.

Huffing and puffing the boys give up chase,

The girls in their stocking feet ran away with the race.

The boys and the girls in playgrounds and yards,

Laughing and singing, life was not hard.

This innocence squandered to the aging of youth,

Maybe in children we adults can find our lost truth.

Wouldn’t this be such wonderful thing,

Removing from stress, it’s life zapping sting.

There’s much we can learn from our children at play,

Like how to have fun each and every day.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Forsaking Our Future

I wrote this poem some time ago about our governments handling of education.  I continuously hear from both sides of the aisle that in order to strengthen our nation, we need to invest in our children’s educations.  Well, I’m sure that I am not alone in voicing disgust with our elected officials.  In every budget discussion, you will hear them crying to reduce funding for public education.  I’m sorry, but you can not invest in education while cutting its funding, it does not work.  There are many, especially on the right, that would like to see public education destroyed in favor of privatization (if they had their way everything would be privatized), but myself, my parents and their parents before them as an example, all are/were products of a public education and have done quite well for themselves just as many of you probably have.  This piece is my way of voicing my frustration with our system of partisan politics using a farming analogy.

~~

Crops lays abandoned,

Overrun with the sprawl of weeds.

The young ripe for the picking,

Left to rot in the noonday sun.

Government touts the virtue of our crops,

Pleading for us to do more,

While refusing to help cultivate.

“It’s just too expensive.”,

Saying we need to invest more,

As they chop, chop, chop,

Down the ivory halls.

Instead we placate our appetites,

Feasting on imported produce from distant shores.

Why do we not sow our own?

The seeds lay before us,

Waiting for the planting.

All the while, seasons come and go,

Leaving sun swept earth,

Arid and untended.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~