A thin rain
Falls upon arid ground
Seemingly lifeless
Springs to life
A million tiny survivors
Sprouting and blossoming
Giving color to the melancholy
Vital for brief a time
Scorched by heat and sun
Withering, dying
Blowing to the four winds
Hibernating
“Til winters rains return
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Credit – graphics.stanford.edu
Blazing sun blinding
Vultures circle overhead
Glad its a mirage
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Credit: theroamingboomers.com
Flowers dormant fade
Below freezing for one week
A desert winter
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dark and exposed after eons under the sculptor’s chisel
Laid naked to the elements and the seasons
Sharp, jagged and formidable, few dare confront you
Either out of fear or rightful respect
~~
A few fools dare scale your rocky crags in quest of your treasures
Cutting deep into your subterranean veins
Drawing out your blood and secrets through violent means
Leaving hollows only to be left abandoned once bled dry
~~
Still this does not detract from the adoration of your admirers
The saguaros raise their arms to the sky in praise
Brave faced monolith, you offer comfort in spite of the desecration
Providing shelter to those that dwell under your protection
~~
Your strength and bravery are none diminished
Inspite of the riches stolen from your purse you hold your head high
Taking revenge on those with careless intentions
Showing no remorse in light of the pains you’ve endured
~~
It could be said that nature has been cruel to you
Yet you have not taken this to heart
Your life can not be counted in mere mortal years
Since you have outlived those that laid claim to your precious abundance
~~
Our prayer is that your future holds you in appreciation and respect
No more to cut and scar your rough hewn beauty
You are a wonder to behold
To be looked upon with reverence as the creator intended
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Credit – gorp.com
By D. R. DiFrancesco
~~~~~
The late fall sky
Bathed in tangerine and magenta
Fragrance of Palo Verde and Cottonwood fills the air
Serenity cloaks the towering granite peaks
Wrapping them in shades of purple and gold
Exalting their millennial majesty
The coyote’s bay
Floating effortlessly through the canyons
They share their lonesome longing song
Adorned as if otherworldly
Cacti and the gnarled Joshua tree dot the desolate Sonoran desert
Prickly and unpretentious in their beauty
The landscape ruled by snake and scorpion
Rattle of the tail and venomous sting, relics of the deadly precipice
The destiny awaiting the oblivious visitor
Rain devoid xeriscape
Designed by the marvelous hand of nature
Wondrous in it’s simplicity and complexity
Man could not have created such a miraculous wonder
For our nature is to destroy
Still the creator left flawed beings as the keepers
To cherish and protect his prized ecru jewel.
By D. R. DiFrancesco
Touching heaven with finger-like peaks
Bathed in purple and black
Crags and fissures a sign of her violent past
Yet in these chiseled features there is peace
Calm in her desolation
Joy in her solitude
Rains come, seldom, brief and miniscule
Life giving none-the-less
Colors erupt skyward from cracks and crevasses
Green, yellow, orange, and purple
Clothing fit for a queen
Floral draped plains bow at her feet
Only the finest for such a star
Sierra Estrella her name
But the cape once so lovely abandons her
Leaving her naked, hard, and rough
No less beautiful in the raw
Standing tall, she resumes her watch
Desert, now void of an audience unfurls
Bowing blindly to her majesty
Hawks and buzzards her only court
Left to marvel at her magnificence
Her strength, her beauty, her wonder.
The Sierra Estrella Mountain range (estrella in spanish is “star”) is located southwest of Phoenix Arizona. My home looks over these mountains and in the years that I have lived here, I have never gotten tired of looking at them.
By D. DiFrancesco
Are they ok?
Where are they?
Questions asked daily by parents of children
But they aren’t really children any more
Only to us.
A letter home
The occasional telephone call
Pictures and postcards
Somehow it isn’t enough to quell the fears
While serving in a land so far away.
We can’t hold them
We can’t advise them
We can’t comfort them
All we can do is worry about them
So Many more questions than answers.
The military says they will take care of them
They say they will try to bring them home safe
“Try” doesn’t make this any easier
But they can’t make such promises
No one can see into the future.
Parcels are sent regardless of cost
Trying to provide some comfort to them
Little things to remind them of home
A little thing to make us feel useful
Yet it doesn’t change anything.
This is what they chose to do
We swell with pride at the thought
We fly our flags and display our yellow ribbons
Small signs to the rest of the world of the their sacrifice
And our sacrifice.
They are a gift
Given to all of us to cherish
They pay the price for our freedom
They weren’t asked to, they weren’t told to
They give because it is their destiny.
Remember these heros in your prayers
Because you know them or someone like them
And because they deserve it and have earned it
This is the very least we can do
Don’t let their sacrifices be for naught.
The telephone rings
Our hearts skip a beat
Hello, is answered with an endless silence
Angst gives way to elation
Hi…Mom…Dad, its me.
By D. DiFrancesco
Pale blue cloudless skies
God’s of granite rise to meet it
Hawks and buzzards scream their cries
Parched and cracking earth crumbles bit by bit.
Yet life does thrive in this barren wasteland
Angry flora and fauna its solemn masters
Brown and tan the palette at hand
Landscape the pupil, sun the headmaster.
Cliff dwellings and hieroglyphs call home this domain
Once proud inhabitants have faded and gone
Arachnids and echoes are all that remain
Of an era that is all but bygone.
Still man insists on taming the unattainable
Its lifeblood rerouted and dammed
For cities and towns, its inhabitants expendable
The resultant effects unplanned.
Yet with all the scrub and cactus and scorpion
Its peace and beauty abound
The mountains and valleys elicit euphoria
No greater gift can be found.
Try as we might to alter its reality
The eagle keeps watch over this land
Man and machine try to prove natures frailty
But nature does refuse their demand.
As the celestial heat wave succumbs to twilight
Nocturnal denizens hiss and bay
Under constellations hunters commence the fight
For the strong to live another day.
With each days pass the circle unbroken
The animal and land meld into one
Of mountains and desert, lore has been spoken
In God’s own will be done.
Dom DiFrancesco 