Tag Archives: God

Huddled Masses

Chips Under the Lamp by Malcolm Teasdale - Monday's Masterpiece 2 December Prompt - Jem Farmer The Boi Poet

Chips Under the Lamp by Malcolm Teasdale – Monday’s Masterpiece 2 December Prompt – Jem Farmer The Boi Poet

Huddled masses dirty and cold

Tossed in darkness to the foul smelling street.

Has nothing changed since the days of old;

The scuffing and shuffling of leather-worn feet.

Scarcely enough light from streetlamps glow,

They’re hungry with nothing to eat.

The single flame does not any safety show

Any end to this parade they repeat.

Fear thee not for thy faithful friend

Stands by with nary a cry.

His loyalty true never waivers or bends

With allegiance ‘til the day that he dies.

Regardless how hard the hearts turn of man

Take comfort that rewards surely await,

For its all just a part of creations masterplan

And the key through the Pearly Gates.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

Monday’s Masterpiece 2 December Prompt – Jem Farmer The Boi Poet 

Raised to Live in Fear

Raised to live in fear.

Plagued with being fallible

Before loving God.

Should I live in mortal doubt

Afraid of retribution?

I prefer to thrive;

Not in guilt, but blissful joy

Trusting God’s wisdom.

Ashamed of my sins–perhaps,

Though faithful in spirits grace.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Will I…

Were I cast out to sea, adrift…in a small boat,

Floating…gliding up and down over diamond-head swells;

Bathing under a star soaked sky,

Will I be seen by God?

~

Were I crawling, dirty…clothes worn ragged,

Parched…flesh burning, blistered and bleeding;

Boiled under a hellish sun,

Will I be saved by God?

~

Were I bedridden, covered in sores…begging for death,

Terminal…no hope, living in utter despair;

A slave to this mortal body,

Will I be spared by God?

~

Were I to pass…peacefully or in torment,

Eyes closed…draped in white as I was at birth;

No more a victim to my earthly form,

Will I be welcomed by God?

~

For all the wrongs I’ve done, all the sins I have notched,

The list is long, written in stone, my autobiography;

My claim on humanity not unlike others,

Will I be forgiven by God?

~

Will I be seen…

Will I be saved…

Will I be spared…

Will I be welcomed…

Will I be forgiven…

By God?

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Lifetime Spent Forging Ahead

A lifetime spent forging ahead,

Ever closer to the raging river.

Tumultuous and wrought with fear

I approach the fjord fraught with peril.

I squint to spy a shore

The bank far too distant to see.

What awaits–Oh that is the question

Asked before, asked again eternally.

Its in the book of Testament Old and New,

Torah, Pistis Sophia, Koran among the few.

Through the ages told to look, to believe

And yes! Ye shall find what ye need,

But it is not so clear, nor has it ever been,

I can’t know what awaits on that far off shore.

Trusting there is more than what I’ve seen,

Like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night

I must trust, I must believe through faith I will live,

For without what is left, but a story with a tragic end.

This cannot, must not be, never created nor destroyed,

I have been forever and will be forever more.

Mortal science has proven the mystics of yore,

There must be life,yes–I must live when I cross the river

As spirit abandons the bodies mortal core.

With each step I take, another step closer,

Sooner than later I will know, I will see what awaits;

Try as we may we cannot escape our human fate.

A fate long sealed by Adam’s rib named Eve

What else can we do, but trust and believe

That all is not lost, that living is not futile,

Lest we spend our days in tears as we grieve.

I refuse!  I will not grieve nor give in to hopelessness,

This by the grace of God I confess

To waste not one breathing moment in sadness

Instead to walk in the ways of gladness

‘Til my time on earth is through.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

My Spirits Journey (Tanka)

My spirits journey

Visited ad nauseum

Questions no answers

Unresolved for a lifetime

A mystery ‘til the end

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Fraught With Danger (Sonnet)

Fraught with danger this daily walk,

As hand-in-hand we battle the foe.

Through foolish acts and foolish talk,

Into the darkness hence we go.

Faith–What faith we question still,

As answers yield no answers forth.

On hands and knees we climb the hill;

The devil tempts our mortal worth.

O’ the struggle, eternal test,

We try yet fail more oft’ than not.

Attempt as we may to do our best

It ends in sin and soul filled rot.

Yet for all our faults and feelings of loss

We’re assured of life through death on the cross.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Circle of Love (Tanka)

Our circle of love
Forged in a golden token
Worn on our left hands
Once held sacred before God
Is now a Cracker Jack prize
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I Lay Prone

I lay prone before God,

Am I worthy of the gift he offers?

I have done nothing to deserve his graces,

His mercy, his saving, especially from myself.

I do not change, I am sinful as I was born to be,

As we were born to be by our father and mother.

Adam and Eve cursed me to a lifetime of sin,

Simply by their failure to obey,

Failure to obey their hunger and thirst for understanding.

This is where it all began,

The anger, the hatred, the intolerance,

This is where the eternal struggle began,

Of good and evil, Heaven and Hell, I bow before it,

Afraid of what I am and what I will become if I fail to comply.

I wander from one phase of mortal understanding to another

Though in the end, I find that I understand nothing.

I am but a grain of sand embodied in ignorance,

Destined to wander this earth searching for answers

Answers that have laid dormant within me,

But I was too frail to see.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Gather Round Ye Respectable Folk

Gather round ye respectable folk,

To witness God’s will be done.

Be still your plow and oxen under yolk,

Our cleansing has surely begun.

Ridding our midst of minions from Hell,

Let thy fires rage and consume.

At high noon on the ring of chapels twelfth bell,

Let thine sentence be seal of thy doom.

With bible in hand and righteous indignation,

The minister stern raises hand.

Tossing torch with a grin and pompous resignation,

Burning witches to ash by flames fanned.

Good Salem be freed from Satan’s cursed lot,

As thy God has so vocally commanded.

May their bodies for eternity lie in torment and rot,

Our morality, their souls remanded.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.  More can be read at the Smithsonian Magazine website http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html

Out of Fear

Worshiped out of fear,

Afraid of divine retribution.

One which allowed murderers,

One which allowed adulterers,

With an apology,

To be King.

You toyed with creation,

Becoming angry as a child

Throwing tantrums

When deprived of your will.

Does death and destruction,

To all but the chosen

Sound reasonable and sane?

With Lucifer as a playmate perhaps.

“Here take my servant,

Do what you will with him,

But do not touch.”

Inflicted with relentless torment,

Sores, anxiety, persecution,

Fear of death,

The game is permitted to continue,

All with your blessing,

To see if he can be broken.

Is this how mercy is shown,

Torturing those that love you?

Finding sport in war and death

Both are waged eternally,

Some with your blessing

Some without,

Either way, surely with a smile.

Sending those in your image to their end

As pawns for your amusement,

This seems to be your sadistic way.

As a final act of brutality,

You offered your son up to despots,

Torturing and degrading him until death,

All to uphold your way of life

And save the monsters which you created.

Would a kind and merciful parent do this to his child,

Instilling them with fear,

Instead of promoting goodness and love?

This question must be answered!

Faith alone does not absolve you of responsibility

For the adulterated state of our being.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~