Image Credit: bradenton.com
Sorrow fills my heart
The brutality of man
Drains my mortal soul
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Sorrow Fills My Heart – A Haiku
Tag Archives: death
The Vultures (A Dark Poem)
The Vulture
Those birds, those horrid blood sucking birds
Circling overhead, their red collared necks deep crimson in the setting sun.
Sensing the departure of spirit and will,
Waiting for the living to become lifeless,
Relishing the coming of death.
What morbid creatures are these, heartless and soulless.
Lying here, is this to be my last vision,
This hideous species of fowl
Bent of emptying my sockets, disemboweling me,
A meal for the taking.
Impaled by the prey I so stealthily sought,
Victim of my own arrogance.
Alone and lonely, shielded in blood soaked clothes
Most certainly this is not the end I envisioned.
What of my loving wife,
What will become of my children,
What of?
They circle…
Lower now, they smell the end is near,
Smell of death is in the air, death is inevitable.
Cold is setting in, the end is close.
Swooping low, these maggots, they torture me,
Flapping of their wings, stench of rotting flesh.
Daylight is fading,
I am so tired, so cold, so at peace.
Do what you will my relentless tormentors;
My family will remember me as I was not as I am,
A poor wretch soon to be torn and scattered,
Nothing but a whisper on the four winds.
Take me O’ winged beasts, take me now!
My time has come,
…Farewell.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Glean What Truth – A Tanka
Glean what truth you can
From this haggard earthly soul
Worn by life’s torment
For mortal time is finite
By natures perfect design
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Question of Significance
You see me on the street, but you do not see me.
I am, but a speck of dust caught in the beam of a streetlight.
Insignificant in this grand and glorious scheme,
But not so insignificant to those who cherish me…as I cherish them.
Mother as I to my wife…wife as I to my daughter,
Father as I to my son…all cherish me, as I them.
Miniscule in this tidal pool of humanity as I may be
This robe I wear befits all that breathe this air,
Fed from the heartlands fertile soil,
Pleasure in grain-fed fowl or grass-fed cattle.
In you dear friends, I see a reflection of me in your life-worn faces;
Neither success nor poverty can separate us in our final hours.
You as I shall become equal to the grasses blade,
The acorn and maple leaf, meal worm and maggot
Shall all become our equals as we return to the earth whence we came.
There is no escape from this inescapable truth.
Though you persevere to nullify my worth, you can not;
For my worth lies not in your perceptions,
But in those of they who loved me.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Solitary Road – A Haiku
Image Credit: 1ms.net
Solitary road
We are born and die alone
What is in between
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
White Noise
Waking to the rhythmic white noise
Television’s twinkling salt and pepper blur
Foil covered rabbit ears like periscopes
Reflect his fractured image…almost blinding
It hurts to sit up straight
Back hunched from decades of labor
Crumbs drop like snow from his cardigan
“What did I eat?”, he mumbles on deaf ears
As gnarled and twisted hands
Brush his remnants to the floor
Feed for roaches and rats that call this home
Day and time are of little concern
What does it matter.
Tormented knees crack
Perched unsteadily beneath him
All he can do is shuffle holding on for balance
The refrigerator fights back as he opens it
The dim light only blackens the mouldy fresco
Decorating the walls and shelves.
Spoiled milk curls the nose
“Been around awhile.” he whispered
Paying it no more mind
Warm beer will have to do
The crack of the tab and the “pusssssh”
Join the metronomic shuffle of his stocking feet
Moaning, he sits
Joints aching from medicine he can’t afford
Alcohol will have to do
Each sip provides little relief
Tired of living his eyes grow heavy
Sleep returns…to the rhythmic white noise
And the televisions salt and pepper blur
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
O’ Precious Neighbor – A Tanka
O’ precious neighbor
Though we live worlds apart
We are of one soul
One mind and of one body
Our stories end the same way
~
~~ Dominic DiFrancesco ~~
Farewell Knights Templar
Image Credit: wunderground.com
The blood curdling scream from the dungeon below,
Made John pray to God for the hangman’s gallows.
This soldier of God stripped of vestments so pure,
Now nameless and faceless a test he was sure.
~
I’ve done what was asked by king, country and Pope
In exchange for a promise to Heaven elope.
If I fall in battle to those savages in the east,
To sling, bow and arrow or some other horrid beast.
~
Instead I’m betrayed by the kinsman I protect;
By cowards and fools those insignificant specks.,
Hiding behind crown whilst I lay on this rack,
Fingers and toes broke while they flail on my back.
~
These charges of heresy are baseless and false,
I’ll deny to my death, to my last beating pulse.
Phillip IV King of motherland France,
Cooked up this scheme devious to embolden his stance.
~
Our riches and land to be his at all costs,
No matter the lives of the Templar that are lost.
Castle and fortress captured by the crown,
Confiscated before Pope Clement could resound.
~
This murderous thief will be judged before God,
Without royal finements, naked and unshod.
Surely he’ll be banished to Hades for his crimes,
Whilst I’ll be looking down on his torment for all times.
~
Justice will be served though draw and quarter is my fate,
I long for the Lord at Saint Peter’s pearly gate.
For the righteous will receive promised Heaven’s just due,
Whilst river of fire awaits souls of evil to be threw.
~
Soon my dear comrades in paradise I will join,
Those of you who’ve gone before by the heathen on the coin.
We’ll reap our sweet vengeance on this coward of the throne,
He’ll burn in Hell, consumed by fire, for eternity alone.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Turning a Blind Eye – A Tanka
Image Credit: productiveflourishing.com
Turning a blind eye
Gives momentary relief
But changes nothing
Only actions gets results
Poverty kills if ignored
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Calls Go Unanswered – A Tanka
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 ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 