This darkened doorway
You never asked to enter
At others mercy
You were born into this world
To live, struggle and pass on
Make more of your life
Than what was given at birth
This should be your quest
Do not squander this reward
For their is no greater gift
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Blackness and dread have come over me,
I know not for how much longer I can resist.
Something unnatural here has staked claim to my soul;
Amongst these damp, dark, mossy castle walls
Light of day does little to diminish my fear.
I can feel it’s presence whilst awake and in slumber,
It speaks to me, taunting me to do unspeakable evil.
I am not the monster this darkness wishes me to be
Tho’ I fear I must be going mad!
I have called on God for strength, but to no avail
He has left me to my own voice.
My wife of O’ these many years fears me,
I am not the man I was,
I have paled, the purple beneath my eyes ages me.
Venturing into the night with nary a word nor explanation
I remember this not, tho’ my clothing doth bear evidence.
I wake to incessant scoffing yet am utterly alone outside of my bed,
Is my mind playing tricks on me,
What have I done, where have I gone?
My shirt dotted in crimson, bloody knife sheathed at my waist,
My hands painted scarlet speak of some unconscious evil.
I have never…could never hurt a living soul,
Yet this throbbing in my skull,
These incessant nightmares claim otherwise.
What I see in my minds eye disgusts me, tho’ I am horrifyingly intrigued.
Screams, shrill and bloodcurdling haunt me.
I can see the faces of females I have never known
Yet they lay at my feet, faces contorted in terror.
I am looking down upon myself and my bloodied hands
These women have been disemboweled,
Steam rising from their flayed vessels in the cold night air,
I laugh heartily at their horrific demise.
These are just dreams!
Nay! They are but nightmares, figments of an active imagination!
They must be!
But my hands bear witness to my dreams.
They are but one and the same, though I know not how.
What have I done, why must I be tormented?
Clearly God has forsaken me!
I dare not show my face beyond these castle walls,
I dare not reveal what I have truly become to my wife and children;
I have become a pariah to my family and this world,
I am ashamed!
Voices chortle saying, “You know what you must do!”,
“Join us! Join us!”.
This pain hath become unbearable,
Pounding, pounding, unceasing, these voices.
Hand drawn to the knife handle I contemplate my end.
The hammer continues to beat upon my temple
As the beat of a drum, constant and rhythmic.
Drawing blade from sheath I tremble, I know what I must do,
Whilst the voices drone on in their monotone “Join us!”.
Lips quivering, eyes tearing, I long for my prior life,
My family, my mind void of this Satan, but it is not to be.
To the hilt, I drive the blood caked knife through my throbbing temple.
Black…Nothing but blackness,
Still there is pain,
The pounding,
The hammering,
Forever tormented even in death,
Surely I must be cursed to hell.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Forgotten heroes
Until violence erupts
Lives forever changed
Sad that it takes tragedy
For us to remember them
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image Credit: asergeev.com
This heat from Hades
Scorching unprotected flesh
The bone yard awaits
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Are we not all but casual observers
This game…though not such a game that governments play
What is it they do not tell us in the name of our own good
Who are they to decide what serves us best
Are these not our lives, our futures, our hopes, our dreams
They toy with these for their own folly
For the sake of national pride we label others as evil
Without looking within at our own flaws
Puffing chests, bellicose, with an arrogance befitting fools
Answering tit-for-tat with ever greater threats of destruction
This chain of ceaseless violence, when will it subside
Years of pain, years of suffering have taken their toll on this weary nation
I ask, what have we won, show me…show us
Do we need another war, more bloodshed of the innocent,
Further sacrifices by our brave men and women delivered as pawns
for subversive economic gain
Isn’t it time to seek peace after so much loss
And break this cycle of violence.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
These paths we travel
Restless into the unknown
Eager and anxious
Begging the deepest question
What lies at the roadways end
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A decade of war
Life draining on this nation
When will it all end
Our citizens sacrificed
Precious resources squandered
To what victory
How do we define success
Against painful loss
Our wars produce no winners
Without a clear enemy
All gains will revert
When finally we depart
Chaos ensuing
As is always the result
In the absence of brute force
When ideals are forced
Democracy imposed
Only breeds contempt
When masses are unprepared
For freedoms sacrifices
~~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Gather up what to you belongs
It serves no purpose once you’re gone
A lifetime spent in hordish gather
In the end what does it matter
We collect and prize our worldly wares
Empty handed we climb the stairs
Meaningless in the grand scheme of things
To claw and scratch for golden ring
This buys you nothing in the end
How sad to see this is the trend
He who has the most stuff losses
If this path the fool doth chooses
Instead look upon your fellow man
Offer them an outstretched hand
For one and all we are the same
In this life a finite game
More wealth derived from acts of kindness
Than all that’s earthly left behind us
Believe or not this must be true
As I strive in all I do
Though I sometimes stumble and often fail
I choose to believe this sober tale
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
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.
What drives man?
Greed, honor, sadness, love, anger, jealousy.
What drives man to madness?
The very same greed, honor, sadness, love, anger, jealousy.
Excuses for the evil that we do
Yet inexcusable by all accounts.
Innocence taken for causes only known to them.
Lives shattered!
Pain inflicted!
Sadness instilled!
No cause justifies their cowardice!
Their selfishness!
Their God complex!
These are criminals deserving of punishment,
Harsh and swift,
Showing no mercy,
For deeds done of their own free will.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 