Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights movement

Alive and well in our young

Picking up the torch

We hoped these days passed

Only to smoulder again

Into raging fire

.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

This Nation Has Changed

This nation has changed

Sadly not for the better

Our blood has gone cold

Selfish, greedy and fearful

Unaccepting of our own

~

Once there was a time

Neighbors were as family

Help and help alike

Now it is all about self

Friends and family be damned

~

Love of another

Has been supplanted by greed

A match made in hell

Corrupting our very souls

Leaving us numb and hollow

~

We have become mice

Under the weight of our fears

Freedom taken back

Under the guise of safety

All done for our protection

~

We allow this theft

By elected officials

Willingly chosen

Buying into double-talk

Believing it to be true

~

The Constitution

Used like the Holy Gospels

When convenient

Equality guaranteed

Unless you don’t fit our mold

~

What happened to us

Give me your poor, your tired

Your huddled masses

Until you get in our way

Or we get tired of you

 ~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A New Day, Another Poll

A new day…another poll.

Do they like us more today than yesterday

This referendum on hate and bigotry is sickening

We are not new,

We have always been here.

Hiding in the shadows for fear of retribution.

Frequently the target of slings and arrows

Thrown by our brothers and sisters.

Sadly, sometimes they hit the mark.

Why such animosity?

We breath the same air you do,

Drink the same water,

Eat the same food.

We are born of the sacred vessel like you

And we die alone as you do.

We love like you do,

We long to be loved like you do.

We are children of God like you.

You know us though you may not know it.

We are your sons and daughters,

We are your friends and acquaintances,

We are the person you pass on the street,

We are the teacher in your schools,

We are the soldier fighting for your freedom,

We are fireman and policeman,

We are the teller at your ban,

We are the checkout clerk at your convenience store,

We are parents,

We want to be parents,

We were born this way,

Though you think it a choice.

We are gay not broken,

We are not something you need to fix.

We are all created equal,

Wasn’t that the promise made to all of us

Not just to you?

                                 ~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

* I wrote this piece because I am tired of the endless polls regarding American’s attitudes toward gay marriage.  We seem to have this morbid fascination with the LGBT community to the point that  many of us are willing to discriminate against them just to keep them from marrying.  In my opinion, not only is this absurd, but it is also unconstitutional and should never have been an issue in the first place.  I personally have family members who are gay and I have neither treated them nor looked upon them any differently than anyone else because of their sexual orientation.  I have never felt threatened by them, nor have they ever been a threat to the children in our family.  They are terrific people.  Folks, you don’t chose to be gay, you are born that way.  Isn’t it time we get over our homophobia and extend the rights to them as citizens that they are guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and put an end to this nonsense.

In Love With Our Guns

Its such an odd twist, absurd,

Answering gun violence with more guns.

Inconceivable, arming teachers in the classroom,

Firearms on college campus’,

Lines, long and winding for munitions,

A run on guns built for a single purpose…

To kill! The prey, not pheasant or mallard…

But people!

Radical outbursts of infringement ravage the land

While cooler heads say no in retort.

Jack-booted thugs do not knock at your door,

Confiscating what is yours.

An instrument of deaths existence

Does not grant license to possess.

Shall RPG, bazooka or grenade launcher be permitted?

Logic to the logical says a resounding no!

I ask you– where does this stop,

When does this madness stop?

Have we not lost enough treasured children,

Have we not seen the senseless acts of violence,

Families and lives destroyed.

This is not the wild west, Tombstone, The Ok Corral,

Time has come to let the gunslinger rest.

This is the twenty-first century for God’s sake,

…Not 1776.

 

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~