The funeral pall
Somber in finality
Remember the good
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco
Led by a despot
Innocent blood stains the streets
Cries for help ignored
Are the lives lost all for naught
Genocide begs a response
~
If not us then who
Each passing day brings more death
More graves to be dug
More mothers weeping their loss
The regime must abdicate
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
I do not pretend, to know the truth,
Anymore than you…or the sun…or the moon,
Proving nothing short of ignorance otherwise.
~
What I do know, is that death is inevitable;
Whether life be a second, a minute or decades,
Of this I am certain.
~
Just as I am certain of my origin;
Beyond progeny…beyond paternity,
My essence existed before that of this earthly vessel,
And will certainly continue beyond it’s worldly demise,
Our human science has assured.
~
I am, however steeped in uncertainty,
Uncertain of what lay in wait after this finite adventure.
~
Will I be swallowed by consuming blackness,
Drifting endlessly…disjointedly into nothingness?
~
Will I be welcomed at Heaven’s pearled gates,
Greeted with open arms into a paradise?
~
Maybe Hell hath set it’s sights on my mortal soul,
Repaying me for the sinful life I’ve led?
~
Or will my soul join with others
To live once again,
In the vessel of another of the newly-born?
~
These all, are questions of faith,
Your faith…my faith,
Questions for which I have no answers.
~
After a lifetime of curious inquiry,
I hold no greater insight into the afterlife,
Than were so endowed in me at my birth.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Coffee thick and strong,
Cooked over an panhandlers stove.
~
A barrel fire for warmth,
Trash confiscated as fuel.
~
Emitting the foulest of odors,
Room for but a few.
~
Night frigid under tenement shadows,
Shanties erected haphazard.
~
Rags moth eaten and ragged,
Held up by anything scavenged.
~
Shelters vulnerable to the storm,
Little choice in the matter.
~
Homes taken,
Jobs shipped overseas.
~
Children hungry and cold,
Let down by an unsympathetic people.
~
A movie scene?
No, these are real lives.
~
Real people,
This is life on the street.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Little one,
You never asked to be brought into this world.
~~
Cold and cruel,
Born on the wrong side of the tracks.
~~
A mother’s love,
Can feed the soul, but the body still craves.
~~
Too young to speak,
Still your cries speak louder than any words.
~~
Sustenance is your right,
Denial would only draw covenant with your demise.
~~
Dying is inevitable,
A fact of life, but a fate undeserved to one so young.
~~
Blamed for your station,
You live in the shadows,
Cursed by the sins of your father,
Left to scavenge at the fringes,
Only to be forgotten,
Or treated as a pariah,
By defect of conscience.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Ye stand erect or lay supine,
Worldly barrier to Heaven or Hell.
In hopes a life you lived sublime,
“Til the gates of pearl cannot we tell.
~~
Simple truth or solemn quote,
With chisel and hammer etched in stone.
A life as full and wholesome promote,
In passing ye set the living tone.
~~
In years to come when pall has passed,
A testament be left to remain.
Symbol of a life lived to outlast,
What flesh and bone cannot sustain.
~~
Though grass may grow to overgrown ,
And the marble be weathered and worn.
For a time to come the living will know,
When you died and when you were born.
~~
In this, ev’n the humble may gain solace,
Great riches nor fame are of import.
Most human of rituals must surely befall us,
Whence this stone stands in tribute and retort.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Light…blinding as weary eyes struggle to see
A vision from lore, dressed in white
Stands before me with outstretched hand
“Walk with me.”, he whispered
I, incapable of uttering a word,
Am I mute,
Am I stunned to silence
I cannot fathom
As unshod feet touch the naked floor
I place trembling hand– in hand
“Be not afraid.”, spoken with a tender smile
“I’m not.”, escapes from parched lips
Peace washes over me as I shuffle
Lead by the kindly stranger
Toward the light nearer and brighter
I was not afraid– to my surprise
Weariness replaced with joy
I longed to reach our unbeknownst destination
Enveloped in the warmth of the light
My Guide in white became clear
Eyes opened wide
Heaven lay boundlessly before me
I was in the hand of God
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
The question eternal,
What lay beyond the infinite night?
I peer Heavenward for the answer,
Pleading for an omnipotent retort,
Never to be realized.
~~
On bended knee,
With hands grasped in prayer,
I have asked for absolution.
Hoping that there is life for me,
Beyond this earthly Hell.
~~
Surely there must be more,
How cruel the joke,
Were Heaven the fodder of fairytales.
This must not be,
I refuse to succumb to disbelief!
~~
This night I will read the Book,
Comforting myself in it’s inspiration,
Denouncing the wickedness of my sins.
By immersion in the prose of Psalm 51,
Praying for the cleansing of my soul.
~~
I will not surrender faith,
To the folly of Satan’s game,
Committing myself to his depths of despair.
Surely this mustn’t be my destiny,
If I am to be a child of the everlasting God.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~