Clouds loom thick and black
The horizon is obscured
Changes are coming
You can hear them in whispers
Blowing softly through the trees
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Tag Archives: downtrodden
Stench Of Urine
Stench of urine,
Cardboard shacks,
Shopping carts,
Tattered clothes,
Hand-me-downs from the dumpster I suppose.
Rummaging through waste baskets,
Feasting on tainted food scraps,
Hiding in the shadows,
Sleeping on steam grates,
Misused,
Abused,
Something less than human.
Left for dead in the cold,
Filth in the form of flesh and blood,
But have you ever looked into their eyes,
Heard their hearts beat,
Seen them cry,
Gasp for their final breath?
I’m sure you haven’t
As you stepped over their broken bodies,
Avoiding them like the plague,
Chuckling at their despair,
On your way to your comfortable life.
Can’t you take a moment to lend a hand,
A little food,
A little shelter,
A bit of cash,
Instead of treating them like lepers,
Feeding off teets of the man..
You don’t know them,
You don’t know their stories,
Their hardships,
Their tragedies,
But you should…
They are our brothers and sister after all.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Revolution
Release the downtrodden
Ever held captive by the oligarchs
Voices stifled by their greed
Only the masses can free them
Let loose on the monsters that key their shackles
Until this is realized nothing will change
Take heed of these words
Indulge in their wisdom as our fathers foretold
Only then will we regain what has been lost
Never to lose it again…unless we revel in comfort
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Broken By Living
Broken by living
An old man lies fetally
Praying for his death
Torturous life on the street
Trades its mercy for your soul
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Pain Like No Other
Pain…like no other
Living–wrong side of the tracks.
Dirty and hungry;
Sunken eyes reveal sadness
Under shroud of filthy streets.
Urchins you call them,
Throwaways to be ignored,
Wastes of human flesh.
Where is your humanity?
They’re people like you and me
Children of this world
Worthy of our sympathy
Worthy of our love
You best take heed!
For one day it may be you
That is spit upon.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
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 ~~
Simpler Life – A Tanka
A simpler life
Could any of us live it
Like that of Gandhi
Living in moderation
Among the less fortunate
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Silent Cries
Image Credit – thinkprogress.org
An infant’s cry shatters another sleepless night
A mother, devoid of life sustaining nectar clutches her baby to her breast
A father weeps silently, drinking in his plight as if hemlock
Sadness shelters the family under its ramshackle peak
Hopelessness feeds their malnourished appetites
What excuse can be waged in this modern year
Brown or white, skin is of no significance
It is not a barrier to the ravages of hunger and poverty
Saying it does not exist does not make it so
As ignorance is not an excuse for blindness
Is there not enough for all
Are not sunken eyes and bloated bellies reason to intervene
Reason to give voice to the cries that no one hears
To tears shed that no one sees
To dreams dreamt that no one believes
Compassion and empathy must foster change
The sighted must open the eyes of the blind
The deaf must be compelled to hear
This is humanities charge
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 