We are still at war
Though it is invisible
To the naked eye
The media doesn’t care
Only the families do
Far away from home
Tears are shed–
With each phone call
Praying for good news
Or maybe no news at all.
They are alone with their fears
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Wheels of bloody war continue to turn,
Backing foreign rebels whose motives unclear.
While villages and cities continue to burn
We’re spoon fed a diet of who we should fear.
~
Millions of dollars to be funnelled covert,
To whom we don’t know, just trust us we’re told.
Protecting our interests how could it possibly hurt,
This story gets older the more that it’s told.
~
Creating future enemies with training and guns,
A lesson that we still have not learned.
Viewed by the world as reincarnated Huns,
Our reputation, our flag once again burned.
~
Another “War on Terror” with no defined win
A phrase perhaps coined oh so rightly
Though resources and patience are stretched ever so thin
We’re lied to with teeth clenched so tightly
~
We’re told this is for the protection of all,
As if we couldn’t see through their disguise.
It’s all about profit and a wealth of crude oil
Wrapped in “freedoms” meager blanket of lies.
~
Our love for our cars, our boats, our planes
And all things founded on fossil fuels.
We take what we want without easing their pains
Makes us look like great bullies and fools.
~
Then they claim concern for the welfare of man
When it’s really nothing more than an act.
Money and greed and taking all that they can
Is an evident though an oft denied fact.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Sullen is my heart
For the deaths of our brethren
And our enemies
In the end we gain nothing
But continued violence
Rejoice not in death
Instead mourn every life lost
With deepest regret
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Beauty fades;
Stripped of color
Under unrelenting sun.
Once vibrant petals
Brown and crumble,
Scattering dust and seed
To the four winds.
A life run its course
Gives birth to the next generation
Through its death in the dawn of spring.
Never regretting,
Never questioning its fate
It gives itself unapologetically
For the propagation of their future.
As with all living things
We are here for a brief time
To live,
To spawn,
To die,
Returning to the earth
From which we came.
A cycle that has repeated itself
For eternity.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Brother fights brother
Will expressed through violence
So death marches on
All for ideology
Refusing to live on peace
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
On this somber day
Where allied blood once ran free;
I am reflective.
Wondering…what it was like
Staring down death and bullet.
Alone, but not so,
Brothers shoulder to shoulder
On that distant shore.
Seventy years on it lives
In those few that still remain.
You can see their pride,
You can see their welling tears
As if yesterday.
Thinking about friends they’d lost
As the price for our freedom.
Remember their dead.
Many scarcely got to live;
Few had said goodbye,
None had regretted the cause
That changed world history.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dying on a beach named Omaha
Determined to win no matter the cost
All for the restoration of Europe’s freedom
Yellow ribbons do not do them justice
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
My breath floated silently toward Heaven.
I watched as it disappeared
Blending seamlessly with the cloud filled sky.
With upturned collar
I stood with loved ones feeling completely alone;
Such a strange feeling this is.
I had known her for almost fifty years,
But suddenly came to realize…
I scarcely knew her at all.
Self-absorbed with my life, my own family,
Thinking she would always be there
I never thought to ask who she was,
What her life was like,
Even where she born;
It just never occurred to me to ask
And never came up in conversation.
My picture of her had always been the same,
White hair, as white as newly fallen snow,
Her cheek, soft and smooth to the kiss,
Kind and joyful, yet quiet as a mouse;
Always taking a backseat to the love of her life.
Sadly, her time has now passed
Taking with it the story that was her.
I am left to gather up snippets,
Like those tossed on the cutting room floor
Selectively shared second hand.
My chance has passed to hear her story
In the truth that can only come from living it.
No fault can be placed, but on me
So on me alone the fault must lie.
By divine retribution, I stand here,
In the icy chill of winter to bid farewell
To one I loved dearly,
More dearly than she would ever know
And with profound sadness I’ve come to realize
…That I never really knew her at all.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A bell doth toll in distant tower.
From my prison balcony
The smell of figs,
Sweet and fragrant waketh me from my trance.
Much prefered to the odor of irony rot oozing from beneath thy ligatures
That holdeth me captive.
Thy constant seeping maketh me nauseous.
O’ how I long to draw my dagger from its leathery sheath;
To feel thy pressure as I spiral into peaceful eternal sleep.
To taste the honey of death woulds’t be such relief,
For this living art not emulous of life.
I blush to think that this is how my end shalt come,
At the hands of thy cowards and fools.
Yet destiny hath no master
And I, but a pawn shalt be sacrificed
For thine greater good.
I committeth my soul into thine hands;
With the hope that thou mayest sleep at night
Knowing the wrong thou hast done,
–I bid thee farewell.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie -Wordle #10
Stairs
Travelers
On a worn stairway
Toward Heaven
Redemption
On the narrowest of paths
One step at a time
Stumbling
We grab the handrails
Looking up
As we climb
Hope of reward at the end
Is what we pray for
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Shadorma Photo Prompt #8
Dom DiFrancesco 