Tag Archives: dead

Demon’s Pawn – A Dark Poem

Echos cascade off these grey stony walls,

Eerie howls toll down shadow darkened halls.

What is the source I would not venture a guess,

Haunting the days into night as it falls.

~

Hearing their cries during every waking hour,

Crimson eyes glare from medieval watch tower.

Diverting away, surely this mustn’t be real,

With cape drawn up tight beneath I do cower.

~

Dashing from the castle to my cottage I must run,

Hoping for arrival before the setting of the sun.

Horrors await those found wandering after dark,

Til vengeance be exacted once the terror has begun.

~

Legend doth tell of the rising of the dead,

Of innocent and guilty who lost their heads.

By creature or demon no one can be sure,

Hide we all did behind locked doors and under beds.

~

Obscured by shadow and cover of the night,

The beast waged it’s terror hidden from sight.

Unsuspecting victims their lives it did take,

Expressions on their faces was one of pure fright.

~

How to defend against one you can’t see,

Nowhere is safe were the cries with mercies plea.

Huddled, crouched and muffled in pure fear,

Imaginations run wild, dear God what can it be.

~

Screams in the distance carried under darkened moon,

Praying for sunrise it can’t come too soon.

As quick as the screams rose they came to an end,

Silence was broken by the song of the oon.

~

The new day awoke no more need to hide,

Slowly, cautiously door unbolted we went outside.

Blood splattered drag marks we were led on our way,

At the horrible sight women fainted, men cried.

~

Hanging from a tree bow with nearly severed head,

Hung the body of a stranger mangled, bloodied and dead.

The demon he had struck in a most savage way,

Stringing up the innocent into thin air he then fled.

~

No footprints nor trace of which way he did leave,

Lowering to the ground for the poor man we did grieve.

Time had passed so quickly as nighttime fast approached,

Picking up the victim for burial we did heave.

~

Laying him to rest for darkness we prepared,

No one spoke a word of the terror that we shared.

Another night of evil behind bolt and hardened doors,

Hoping to survive proving the Lord our God had cared.

~

Have mercy on the traveler that knows not what goes on,

The devil lurking in the woods we’re praying that he’s gone.

For centuries we’ve done the same with always the same answer,

In this land of demon’s folly we are nothing but his pawns.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

In Memorial – A Tanka

Barbecues and beer

Welcoming a new summer

We’ve lost it’s meaning

Those who have died…forgotten

Gone is the memorial

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Forgotten Heroes – A Tanka

Forgotten heroes

Until violence erupts

Lives forever changed

Sad that it takes tragedy

For us to remember them

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

These Paths We Travel

These paths we travel

Restless into the unknown

Eager and anxious

Begging the deepest question

What lies at the roadways end

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Tale Of The Jersey Devil – A Dark Poem

The wind it howled through dark of night

Father stammering in paralyzing fright

He hid me deep in closet bare

Eyes wide open through slats I stare

~

The growl it came on putrid breath

I feared the end a gruesome death

Father held tight as the door it rattled

Futile to fend an unnatural battle

~

Slowly the door it did part from it’s frame

Demon’s eye I see glowing red as a flame

Father held tight, just as tight as he could

But he knew in short order his strength fail it would

~

The beast it did shriek as father fell to the floor

Claws round his throat he threw father at the door

With a horrible thud bleeding and prone

Father lay silent and I cowered alone

~

I could see cloven feet moving this way and that

Flapping leathery wings as if clipped from a bat

It spit as it growled from between fang laden jaws

Destroying our cottage with yellow curled claws

~

It’s face was not human, nor of beast of the earth

Larger than a man in it’s height and it’s girth

The horns that did sprout from the top of his head

Certain in a moment I surely be dead

~

It clawed at the closet breaking slat after slat

‘Til the drool from it’s fangs fell inside pitter-pat

I curled in the corner as best that I could

Live another night I prayed to God that I would

~

The stink of the devil almost more than I could bare

As lice and maggots fell from his feathers and his hair

With one longing screech as spit ran down the wall

I closed my eyes and held my breath as the satan’s tail did fall

~

Then as fast as it came it turned and did run

Back into the pines from whence it did come

Leaving claw marks and stench behind in it’s wake

This night we were lucky for no life did it take

~

Battered and bloodied was my father its true

No worse was I for the terror gone through

This story’s been told, handed down through the ages

Written in books filling volumes of pages

~

Still there are those who refuse to believe

‘Til receive they a visit on one dark moonless eve

Jersey Devil of the pines unannounced makes his call

The season matters not winter, spring, summer or fall

~

The son of Mrs. Leeds, cursed long before birth

Banished to the forest amongst pine and marshy firth

Spawn of the Devil to live immortal life

Its best to guard your sons and daughters and your wife.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

This poem is based on the Jersey Devil, the longest lasting piece of lore in the state of New Jersey, originating in 1735. This website, WeirdNJ gives one rendering of what the Jersey Devil is supposed to look like along with a good bit of information about it’s origination and actual sightings of the devil.

I grew up in this area and lived there until about 12 years ago. It is an absolutely beautiful area along the southern coast of New Jersey, that is of course unless it is nighttime and you are lost in the Pine Barrens.

Calls Go Unanswered – A Tanka

Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk

Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk

Calls go unanswered

Are you not at all concerned

Like ships lost at sea

When late to arrive at port

We send out a search party

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Mother’s Tears – A Haiku

Image Credit: youthvoices.net

Image Credit: youthvoices.net

Another one gone

A mother’s tears for her son

Shot dead in the night

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~