Tag Archives: death

Bread, Milk, Stocked Pantry (Tanka)

Bread, milk, stocked pantry

Protection from arctic cold

Taken for granted

No comfort to the homeless

Freezing and dying alone

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

The Blink of an Eye

The blink of an eye

Ones life in the scheme of things

Its here and then gone

Wasted due to our own fears

Until we end in regret

This should never be

We were all born to create

Everything we dream

The only shame–not living

Just because we are afraid

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Does She Dream–She Dreams No More (Sonnet)

Does she dream–she dreams no more,

Though mother grieves, her spirits flown.

Tears are shed in torrents, stain upon the floor,

In her heart of hearts she has most surely known.

.

Knowledge diminishes not a mother’s sorrow,

Science cold, offers no sympathetic relief.

Knowing there will be no more tomorrows,

Does little to quench her wrenching grief.

.

Its time she needs to weep and mourn,

A daughter lost to procedure routine.

To unite and mend a family torn,

By results unexpected, gross and obscene.

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Her passing a reminder of the commonplace, still serious,

And the pain no less painful turns a family delirious.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Is Being “Father” Enough

Is being “Father” enough?

Looking into the face of the son, I’m not sure who I see;

Some of me, some of his mother,

But these are just physical traits.

He has lived a life far different from my own,

Seen and done things that I have never seen or done

Lived the horrors of war,

Witnessed the worst of mankind,

Traveled through the world with a bullseye on his back.

How could this not demand change,

A change that I will never understand?

Me…I’ve sat in my easy chair;

Warm, dry, safe,

Worrying for his safety,

Praying for him to come home.

I read the ticker at the bottom of the screen

Announcing without emotion those that would not return;

Thankful for the call that never came.

Is being “Father” enough?

I cannot alter what was,

Cannot erase what he has seen,

Cannot live his life.

We seem to have less in common these days,

Though I am certain that this is more my problem than his.

Is being “Father” enough?

I suppose that it will have to be.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Brothers and Sisters

Brothers and sisters
Born of flesh, bone and spirit
Are we not the same
Like those that came before us
We will return to the earth
Leaving our struggle
For what comes after this dance
To those that follow
…The never ending cycle
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Sky (Tanka)

Sky–clear glass ceiling

One can almost see heaven

Clean and bright above

Passing from life into death

Could this be what it looks like

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Chill (Tanka)

Chill…Rustle of trees

Winter is fast approaching

Usher in the dead season

Like the cycle of our lives

One dies another is born

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Lifetime Spent Forging Ahead

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.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

My Spirits Journey (Tanka)

My spirits journey

Visited ad nauseum

Questions no answers

Unresolved for a lifetime

A mystery ‘til the end

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Fraught With Danger (Sonnet)

Fraught with danger this daily walk,

As hand-in-hand we battle the foe.

Through foolish acts and foolish talk,

Into the darkness hence we go.

Faith–What faith we question still,

As answers yield no answers forth.

On hands and knees we climb the hill;

The devil tempts our mortal worth.

O’ the struggle, eternal test,

We try yet fail more oft’ than not.

Attempt as we may to do our best

It ends in sin and soul filled rot.

Yet for all our faults and feelings of loss

We’re assured of life through death on the cross.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~