Tag Archives: empathy

Wouldst Thou Love Me Were I A Peasant (Sonnet)

Wouldst thou love me were I a peasant,

Owning little but what hangs upon my back.

I thinkest thou would not find this so pleasant,

Discarding me for all of this world that I lack.

 

Wouldst thou speaketh to me were I a leper,

Or ignore me whilst turning a blind eye.

I thinkest thou would prefer me fettered,

In shackles where none could see me cry.

 

Wouldst thou hold me if I were a poor wretch dying,

Alone and filthy on thy city thoroughfare.

I thinkest thou would leaveth me bloody and lying,

‘Til the ravens come to taketh their share.

 

Is compassion so hard for thee to perceive, casting feeling aside with nary a care.

Giveth from the heart and thou shalt conceive, a life full of blessing worthy to share.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Feel Anothers Pain

Feel anothers pain

Before you too harshly judge

Called being human


~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Do Unto Others (Tanka)

Do unto others

As you wish be done to you

Simple and timeless

What’s so hard to understand

Love one another!

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Silence

Silence does not mean I don’t care.

Perhaps I’m stifling a self-righteous opinion

Or maybe I’m just listening like a good friend does.

I don’t have all the answers nor are any required.

Your questions are rhetorical,

Simply statements to self,

You already know the answers.

It isn’t my place to judge,

Only to offer advice when asked for it,

My judgemental days are over.

I don’t walk in your shoes,

I don’t feel what you feel,

I haven’t lived your life,

Struggled your struggles,

Traveled your rutted path.

Instead I offer my silence

…As a show of love and support.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Memories Dot Our Roadsides

Memories dot our roadsides,

Highway or rural it matters not.

Monuments hammered with tears serve as reminders,

Whitewashed, makeshift,

Adorned in faded flowers,

Bleached to muted hues by the noonday sun.

At times dressed with images,

Perhaps names or signs–loves of their lives;

Each one a silent storyteller.

Embarrassed, I often pass without offering a sympathetic glance,

Too consumed with my own circumstance to take notice.

This is not out of cruelty,

Nor is it for a lack of compassion,

But instead due to the chaos of everyday life.

Still–upon further reflection, I wonder…

Whose daughter, son, mother, father were they?

What story do they have to tell,

What were their hopes and dreams,

Are those left behind coping?

Questions are these for which I have no answer.

A solitary cross marks a souls final earthly moment,

Pleading to be noticed and remembered.

I hope to take the time, if only a moment

To wish their spirits well

And to pray for closure for those left behind.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

What is the Cost

What is the cost of kindness, love, compassion,

Nothing and everything I propose.

No monetary value do they hold.

They cannot be bought or sold as livestock.

They are invisible, but for their gestures.

This by no means diminishes their value.

Priceless are they above the grandest diamond,

But do not be fooled,

They most surely take ravenously as does the thief.

Taking stress and casting it into the wind,

Taking hate and smothering it until breathless,

Taking selfishness and warming it with empathy.

Nothing but good can come of these

Yet we find them most difficult to freely offer.

How much improved would this world be,

For all that we sow we reap

Either in this life or the next.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Peeling Back The Layers

Peeling back the layers

Like an onion of marble, brick, wood,

Concrete, steel and plaster.

What lies beneath this man-made skeleton?

Flesh, blood, bone,

Hopes, dreams, promise,

Failure, disappointment, longing,

Pain, suffering and sorrow,

Wrapped in the package human.

Wealth nor status makes one immune.

Life infects rich and poor alike,

Birth and death spare no one,

Entering into their pact with nothing

And fulfilling the contract with no reward.

These truths are guaranteed

Despite a desire to bury them in denial, religion or alcohol.

Make what you will of your life

Ignore those that cry to you with outstretched hands,

Divert your eyes from malnourishment,

Turn your back on humanities fallen,

Do this and more without conscience

As a soulless miscreant is bound to do.

This is your choice.

Or join this race we all run…offering,

Time, money, love,

Compassion, sympathy, understanding,

A helping hand, encouragement,

As much or as little as you have,

This is what it means to be human,

To be in communion,

Asking nothing in return.

~

~~ 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 ~~

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 ~~