Tag Archives: courage

On This Somber Day

On this somber day

Where allied blood once ran free;

I am reflective.

Wondering…what it was like

Staring down death and bullet.

Alone, but not so,

Brothers shoulder to shoulder

On that distant shore.

Seventy years on it lives

In those few that still remain.

You can see their pride,

You can see their welling tears

As if yesterday.

Thinking about friends they’d lost

As the price for our freedom.

Remember their dead.

Many scarcely got to live;

Few had said goodbye,

None had regretted the cause

That changed world history.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Yet Another Name

Yet another name

Etched in the blackest granite

Written with their blood

We are called to remember

Each and every spring–in May

Recognizing them

Honoring their families

Their sacrifices

A debt we can not repay

Except with our hearts and minds

Thank you

.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Ignorance (Acrostic)

Its not an excuse for inhumanity

God did not make us omnipotent

Nor did He make us judge and jury

Only He commands such authority

Racism, discrimination, hate

Arrogance, intolerance

None have a place in civilized society

Courage to withstand is paramount

Even though they will want us to burn

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

I Speak To You

I speak to you as though fragile.

Raised this way,

Its at times taken in offense

Though this is not my intention.

It is only done out of concern,

Not out of malice.

~

I know your strength,

Your ability to handle adversity,

You are so much stronger than I

Truth be told.

~

I stand in awe of your fortitude

For mine is but a facade,

Painted in watercolors,

Easily stormed if its weakness be known.

Yours, though transparent is ironclad,

Able to withstand any assault.

~

I am envious of you,

I am proud of you,

I am spellbound by you

And I am deeply in love with you.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Sanguine Is This Soul Of Mine

Sanguine is this soul of mine,

Joyous in being, breathing, loving, all that this creation has thrown at me,

Be it pleasant or not I am thankful.

Goodness does not come without pain..this has been my experience.

I am not bitter for the anguish I have endured,

The blood I have tasted on my tongue, the bruises worn in honor,

They have strengthened my resolve,

Enhancing that which brings me solace and jubilation.

You are not alone!

This misery, your father and your father’s father before him withstood,

All for a chance to taste euphoria,

Are these not the jewels for which we spend a lifetime in search?

Dear friend, be not weary or disillusioned;

Beyond this torment is bliss– be it in this world or the next.

We, one and all, are pawns in this game,

One whose end is synonymous,

Whether rich or poor, with the victor being…

The human condition

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Strength to Overcome

Sadness, quiet, eerie blows,

On garnished leaves to where who knows,

A fall from grace in painful throes,

To die in forlorn anonymity.

~

Acrid tears fall on arid plain,

O’er rock and berm toward sea of flame,

Where passion burns lone side disdains,

A heart in mangled perpetuity.

~

Asphyxiated soul, torrid and weak,

Heaves vital breath for redolence to seek,

Speechless and winded, powerless to speak,

In silence thy sentience doth flicker.

~

These stolid misfortunes no more shall they hinder,

Gathered in bushel– cloaked as barren split tinder,

Leaving the past a hoard of smoldering cinders,

With courage, volition sustains.

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~