Tag Archives: dying

Casual Observers

Are we not all but casual observers

This game…though not such a game that governments play

What is it they do not tell us in the name of our own good

Who are they to decide what serves us best

Are these not our lives, our futures, our hopes, our dreams

They toy with these for their own folly

For the sake of national pride we label others as evil

Without looking within at our own flaws

Puffing chests, bellicose, with an arrogance befitting fools

Answering tit-for-tat with ever greater threats of destruction

This chain of ceaseless violence, when will it subside

Years of pain, years of suffering have taken their toll on this weary nation

I ask, what have we won, show me…show us

Do we need another war, more bloodshed of the innocent,

Further sacrifices by our brave men and women delivered as pawns

for subversive economic gain

Isn’t it time to seek peace after so much loss

And break this cycle of violence.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

These Paths We Travel

These paths we travel

Restless into the unknown

Eager and anxious

Begging the deepest question

What lies at the roadways end

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Decade Of War

A decade of war

Life draining on this nation

When will it all end

Our citizens sacrificed

Precious resources squandered

To what victory

How do we define success

Against painful loss

Our wars produce no winners

Without a clear enemy

All gains will revert

When finally we depart

Chaos ensuing

As is always the result

In the absence of brute force

When ideals are forced

Democracy imposed

Only breeds contempt

When masses are unprepared

For freedoms sacrifices

~~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

What Drives Man

What drives man?

Greed, honor, sadness, love, anger, jealousy.

What drives man to madness?

The very same greed, honor, sadness, love, anger, jealousy.

Excuses for the evil that we do

Yet inexcusable by all accounts.

Innocence taken for causes only known to them.

Lives shattered!

Pain inflicted!

Sadness instilled!

No cause justifies their cowardice!

Their selfishness!

Their God complex!

These are criminals deserving of punishment,

Harsh and swift,

Showing no mercy,

For deeds done of their own free will.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Sorrow Fills My Heart – A Haiku

Image Credit: bradenton.com

Image Credit: bradenton.com

Sorrow fills my heart

The brutality of man

Drains my mortal soul

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Vultures (A Dark Poem)

The Vulture

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 ~~

We Must Never Forget – A Tanka

Image Credit: theimagearsenal.com

Image Credit: theimagearsenal.com

These flag draped coffins

Returning from distant wars

We must not forget

Whether cause be right or wrong

They’re our brothers and sisters

~

~~ 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

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 ~~