Tag Archives: dying

Ravaged By Nature

Sullied winds chatter chimes lashed to greyed beams

Warped and splitting with age, appear none too long for this world

With each ring an angel must surely get their wings

As remuneration for a melody so heavenly revealed

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Steps crippled, squeal as mice in traps are bound to do

Bowing under the burden of the weary traveler

Fortitude ingrained, revives the weakened conscripts

Whose preparation has made them cordial adversaries

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Tawny hinges weathered by sun, beaten by the wind cry in pain

Remorse etched into their hammered finish confesses their age

Chagrined by subjugation, the door slams

Announcing defeat to it’s audience of none

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Dark but for dust pirouetting through muted shafts of light

Stirred by shuffling boots, tattered and worn thin by extended employ

Creaking under foot, floorboards rebel in unison with their owner

Shrunken and contorted from the weight of existence

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Ping of coils break the stagnant silence of the vessel

Sagging lumpy seat replaces a once firm cushion

A quiet ah, escapes from the lungs in expiration

Sense of relief but for the strain of fabric

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Cracking joints echo of broken glass in freefall

Legs wobble by exhausted mortise and tenon

Laden with rings, table balances precariously in an uncomfortable dance

Unsteady and unsure, time has reaped it’s revenge

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Tired well beyond youth, mortality returns from holiday

Waiting to reveal what lay interred beyond these walls

Neither refinish nor repair prolong to eternity

Only temporary and finite are the workings of men

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Man conspires with the dwelling in cosmic ways

Each subject to the ravages of the lifetime moment

Materially morphing into a shell of the original creation

Inevitably conceding to nature’s crowing fate

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Circle of Fools

Tightropes walk to the edge of ruin

Foresight focused on the next coronation

Selfish air about you floats

Ignoring the subjects by whom you’re appointed

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Millions seek your help after natures disaster

WIth backs turned and blinders on you drift away

Crying our duty has been faithfully done

Shameful and disgraceful are your exploits

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You led us to this precipice as arrogant fools will do

Tug-o-war played with lives of no consequence

Calls to work go unheeded in deafened halls

Leaving the masses pondering their fate

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Pointing fingers and placing blame like two year olds do

Holding your breath until your face turns blue

Shouting foul to the constituency

Hoping for some semblance of sympathy

~~

Feigning sincerity is not your passion

Ploys thrown about for the cameras leave us hollow

Begging for guidance and utopia in a barren wasteland

Sadly hope falls just out of reach

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Choosing to live or eat should not be in question

As human beings should these not be our unalienable right

Many of you say no all for the saving of a dollar

While claiming vociferously that we are a Christian nation

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Bloody and battered we hope for change

Praying diplomacy and common decency once again rears it’s head

Instead replacing cordiality with dissension

We are left drowning in a torrent of despair

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Harbor not ill will towards those who have entrusted

Compromise in our eyes is not an unclean word

Stubbornness and procrastination will lead to certain demise

Catapulting a once great dominion into irreparable ruin

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Senseless Loss (Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy)

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By D. R. DiFrancesco

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To rationalize this cycle of unfettered hate

Would only lend credence to the insane

The innocence of children left to a horrible fate

Snuffed out by a killer’s reasons arcane

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We weep for them, for what we have lost

A future taken in an instant never to grow up

Never to have know them, an insurmountable cost

Terrible and tragic their loss we never can make up

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We light our candles and say a prayer

Hoping their Maker greets them with open arms

For all we can do is stand united and show them that we care

While trying to figure out how to protect others from Satan’s harm

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Who could have known or perhaps have foretold

What tragedy would await these children so pure

Our own  we’ll pull close and tightly hold

To be confident they safe I am sure

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Thou shalt not kill a commandment most true

May this murderer burn in eternal hell

For you’ve taken from us so much more than you knew

In a moment of silence we toll the bell

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We stand with the mothers and fathers who weep

Tears that cannot bring their babies home

Never again to lay them down to sleep

Their hearts laid bare, broken and alone

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What more can I do but say sorry and grieve

For a loss no one can ever justify

I drop to my knees and beg their souls to take leave

And with mourning and sadness say goodbye

I Should Have Listened

By D. R. DiFrancesco

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They are only things,

Temporary and replaceable trinkets,

Their loss, of course stings,

But at the time you could not think it.

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They asked you to leave and not look back,

Refusing, you took your life in your hands,

While Sandy bore down on your homes and your shacks.

Threatening to bury you in water and sand.

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Stubborn you claim, “ I’ve been through this before”,

I made it once, I made twice, I can make it again,

But Sandy is not like any of those other girls they implore,

She’s reckless, she’s deadly, she’s a ten out of ten.

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You know better than they do,

She can’t take what is yours,

Until the trees fell and the waves grew,

You tried to batten your windows and doors.

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The winds whipped and the rains fell,

Now your house has gone dark,

There’s no one to call, there’s no one to tell,

A loud bang and the sky is lit up by a transformers spark.

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A tear falls and your heart begins to race,

Maybe Sandy isn’t like any of the other girls I knew,

I wasn’t afraid of Irene or Katrina I just laughed in their face,

I’m beginning to think that this one played me for the fool.

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You called for help, but your cries go unheeded,

They told you to get out, you just wouldn’t listen,

Left to ride out the storm ‘til the oceans receded,

Under stress you tremble and sweat begins to glisten.

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A horrible crash and the doors turn to splinter,

Windows explode shattered glass all around,

Nowhere to hide as the waves rush to enter,

Trapped with no chance to reach higher ground.

 ~~

You struggle to hang on not to drift out to sea,

As your walls crumble down like paper mache,

The surge sucks you out as you lunge for a tree,

Praying to God to live another day.

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Your tired and weak as your hold begins to slip,

Life flashes like a movie in your minds eye,

Kicking and straining not to lose your wet grip,

Hoping against hope that its not time to die.

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But your fate it was sealed in that moment of haste,

You had your chance given more than should have been needed,

The lose of your life such a sad and immoral waste,

All for disregard of a message that should have been heeded.

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We now mourn your loss as a tragedy unforgiving,

At the hands of a lady with the devil in her soul,

You could have been one to go on in life living,

Instead you’re another uptick in Sandy’s death toll.

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You’re a sad reminder of nature’s great strength,

To be feared and respected in all of it’s glory,

Awesome and powerful while held at arms length,

May your loss be our lesson in this tragic storm story.

Sadly, there are those that do not have an appropriate respect for the power of nature.  Too often these individuals refuse to heed the warnings given to them and the result is not just the loss of their personal property, but the loss of their lives.

I truly mourn those who perished as a result of Hurricane Sandy and hope that somehow those that lost their lives due to their blatant disregard of the warnings serve as a lesson to those who may contemplate similar actions in the future.

I honestly believe that there are no material possessions in this world worth sacrificing ones life for.   I hope and pray for a speedy recovery and return to normalcy for those who are suffering from the wrath of Sandy.  My heart goes out to you all.

Love Eternal

By D. R. DiFrancesco

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Love, a sweet and fragile thing,

So often taken for granted,

Or tossed aside as insignificant.

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Only a heart blackened,

Burned and broken,

Could commit such a tragedy.

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Choosing to pass alone,

Lonely and cold,

Into the eternal night.

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Foolish choices,

Made by selfish men,

In the name of earthly gain.

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For what purpose,

Material possessions are finite,

Discarded on our last day.

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But is not love eternal,

Gifted freely from one to another,

Melding with our very souls.

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What a poor man is he,

Confined to his worldly goods,

While silence fills his rooms.

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Does not love will us to go on,

Strengthening our resolve,

Even in times of affliction.

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If this were this not the case,

I long ago would have ceased,

Suffocated by life’s despair.

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Choosing love instead is most natural,

Engraved into our very being,

‘Til death do us part.

In Remembrance – Haiku

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Bow your heads and pray,

Those lost on that tragic day,

Live on in our hearts.

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The scattered debris,

Charred and lifeless in that field,

Breaking the silence.

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The two titans fall,

Waking a sleeping giant,

From it’s lethargy.

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A symbol of might,

Flame and confusion consume,

Still bravery shone.

The Anniversary

Freedom Tower NYC

By D. R. DiFrancesco

An anniversary,

Not so unlike the 10 before,

Unhappy and unpleasant as it saunters by.

We take time to remember where we were,

When we first saw the images splashed across our screens,

When we shed our first tear.

You didn’t have to know anyone personally,

Still you knew everyone personally,

We were brothers and sisters by birth or naturalization.

Seeing the towers fall,

The Pentagon our symbol of power ablaze,

Flight 93 reduced to a burning debris field wrenched at our hearts.

First responders covered in dust,

Survivors disheveled, awash in blood,

Wandering aimlessly, trying to grasp the magnitude of the situation.

Incomprehensible…yet bravery abounded,

Stories of heroism and self-sacrifice,

Overshadowing the cowardice of the act.

A monument to our resolve rises,

Out of the smoke and ash, a tribute to the lost,

We will not be broken.

We remember the 2, 977 victims of this day,

As the names are read and the prays are spoken,

New tears are shed out of sadness and out of pride.

We will never falter,

We will never forget,

We are Americans…

God Bless America!

Requiem for Peter

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Words seem inadequate at such a time,

More than just a colleague you were a friend,

I can’t imagine the anguish and fear that must have gripped you.

Sadly, all we could do was watch,

Offer faint attempts at support,

And secretly hope that you would recover.

This was not to be,

You aged right before our eyes,

Hair, once salt and pepper turned white and paleness  entered your skin,

A shell of the man you used to be.

Your strength however, was inspirational,

Disease did not deter you from your labors,

Your attitude always focused on the positive.

Our lives my friend, were enriched just to have known you,

You left far more to this world than you took,

And this world will be a little emptier without you.

May you find peace and comfort with your maker,

As those that knew you come to terms with your passing,

Farewell dear friend…you will be sorely missed.

** In memory of my colleague Peter who passed away last night from lung cancer.

Twilight’s Aftermath

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Awaken me so that I can feel the life-blood course through my veins

Pulsing, gushing, bringing warmth to every limb

In the black of night I begged to be revived

Slapped to consciousness by the maker’s almighty hand

I balk as I look down upon my lifeless vessel

Seemingly floating, weightless and translucent

Hearing every word, but unable to speak

Painless yet terrified of missed goodbyes

I try to scream, still nary a sound can be made

Cold and motionless I try to shake myself from this God forsaken slumber

They never said it would feel like this

Bright lights, almost blinding

I can see them, though my eyes are shut tight

How can this be

No one is calling me home, just bright lights and heat

Voices, huddled, cocktail party conversation

Its hard to swallow, parched and cracking

Hello…I’m here, can’t you see me…I can hear you

No response

Laughter and echoed unintelligible sounds drown me out

This can’t be happening

Black…

Oh God, its gone black

The lights are gone and its black as night

Voices implode into deafening silence

Eyelids flutter revealing fog distorted faces

Softer lights sting my eyes

Sounds come into focus, echo-less and clear

I can feel

I can speak

Fear subsides as the sweat is wiped from my brow

Twilight’s affects begin to wane

I am me…

I am alive

And I am well

To Almost Touch Heaven

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Staring into an ocean blue sky,

Gliding,

Cradled in the silvery wings of a bird,

So close God,

So close to heaven I can almost touch it.

This must be what it is like to die,

What it is like to ascend into the afterlife,

Weightlessly soaring,

Song of birds a symphony,

Leading my soul skyward,

Sun warm and inviting on my face,

Clouds of virginal white clothe me,

Comforting my weary essence.

At peace,

This must be what it is like,

What it is like to almost touch heaven,

On the wings of the silvery bird.