Tag Archives: destitute

Huddled Masses

Chips Under the Lamp by Malcolm Teasdale - Monday's Masterpiece 2 December Prompt - Jem Farmer The Boi Poet

Chips Under the Lamp by Malcolm Teasdale – Monday’s Masterpiece 2 December Prompt – Jem Farmer The Boi Poet

Huddled masses dirty and cold

Tossed in darkness to the foul smelling street.

Has nothing changed since the days of old;

The scuffing and shuffling of leather-worn feet.

Scarcely enough light from streetlamps glow,

They’re hungry with nothing to eat.

The single flame does not any safety show

Any end to this parade they repeat.

Fear thee not for thy faithful friend

Stands by with nary a cry.

His loyalty true never waivers or bends

With allegiance ‘til the day that he dies.

Regardless how hard the hearts turn of man

Take comfort that rewards surely await,

For its all just a part of creations masterplan

And the key through the Pearly Gates.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

Monday’s Masterpiece 2 December Prompt – Jem Farmer The Boi Poet 

Cast Into Shadows

Cast into shadows,

A scourge on society

Like lepers banished.

The downtrodden vilified

Are treated as a burden.

Is this not unfair

Of those in authority

Trusted to do right?

By their own self-interest,

Those that need them most are lost,

Left to their vices

Just to dull the endless pain.

Their cries unanswered

Fade quietly in the night,

‘Til no longer seen or heard.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Thirst and Hunger

Thirst is not a disease

Nor hunger a plague waged as a personal attack..

The dirty and downtrodden are not animals with opposing thumbs

Foraging through trash bins for food.

Their children are not parasites to be frowned upon!

They love just as you do with the same wants and needs.

Hands cracked and calloused know hard work.

Many toil hard and long for the barest of necessities

Only to fall short, thankful for assistance.

Yet you despise the poor collectively,

Lazy, blood suckers, bums, leeches,

Used as terms of endearment.

Speaking as though you know them or their circumstance

You display nothing but ignorance.

What do you know of their lives, their pain, their poverty?

Many are victims of economics,

Failing of health or disability,

Casualties of familial history,

Deprived of education,

Forgotten or blamed by the very souls with the power to change.

Greed and loathing blind,

Banishing compassion and humanity to the pits of hell.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Enough – A Tanka

Somber do I feel

Weeping for the worlds pains

As if mine alone

In our culture of excess

Is there not enough for all

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Scavenging

Scavenging,

Through trash bins,

Rubbish heaps,

Loitering beyond alley doors,

Waiting for “the good stuff”.

Jagged nails,

Through fingerless gloves,

Sort through treasures,

Maybe a doughnut,

Scrap of bread,

Half eaten burger,

A meal fit for a king.

Seen on steam grate mattresses,

Fetal curl for warmth;

Passersby arc wide birth

To avoid their touch.

Rain draws trash bag slickers,

Doorways, cardboard,

Rags for umbrellas,

Taxi’s thrown sludge sprays the invisible

With cities dirt and grim.

Will they be here tomorrow?

Will anyone notice their absence?

As their shopping cart sits idle

Ravaged by fellow unseen.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Skinned Knees

Skinned knees

Blood red

Torn pants

Frayed rope belt

Too big for frail frame

~

Nails caked

Hands shake

Dirty hands

Utensils for eating

Food is scarce

~

Shirt ragged

Sleeves ripped

Buttons missing

Better than nothing

Shopped from trash

~

Face leather

Beard unshaven

Hair matted

No place to shower

Embarrassed by odor

~

Scrap cardboard

Help Me Please

Eyes pleading

Can you spare a dime

Will you spare a dollar

~

Looking away

He’s invisible

Just a bum

Remember his knees

He wounds like us

~

You pray to God

Recite His passages

Holier than thou

Looking down your nose

You detestable hypocrite

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Simpler Life – A Tanka

gandhi

A simpler life

Could any of us live it

Like that of Gandhi

Living in moderation

Among the less fortunate

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Welcome to the New Main Street – A Tanka

Hope springs eternal

Just a phrase to so many

Whose hope has faded

Left destitute and alone

Welcome to the new Main Street

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Have and Have Not

You laud that all you have, you have earned

The blood and sweat of your toils payment

While covering the working poor and unemployed

With a blanket of hate and hypocrisy

Are not your hands outstretched

Collecting the tithe of the state

You are no different than those you so despise

It comes at no less a cost and is no less a handout

Than that received for the sustenance of life

Is sharpening your intellect from the pockets of the people

Somehow more noble than feeding children and the poor

You cry for the state to back down

While pickpocketing the very social programs

You so vehemently claim to detest

You hypocrite! You cannot have it both ways

You cannot suckle at the teats of mother state

While questioning that which she so graciously provides

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Tears for the Unborn – A Haiku

Image Credit: npr.org

Image Credit: npr.org

Knees pulled to her chest

A destitute mother weeps

For her unborn child

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~