Tag Archives: greed

Greed and Humanity

Capitalist,

Socialist,

I am neither,

And both.

I am not proud that either need exist,

Each is distasteful alone.

Capitalism breeds greed,

The rich get richer,

The poor get poorer

Dividing their people.

Socialism strives to temper greed,

Reigning in its excesses

In hopes of leaving something for the masses.

Those with means rail against this,

Crying infringement!

“I don’t need the government regulating me,

I will give to others as I see fit.”,

This is not reality, but greedy folly.

Human nature believes what’s mine is mine.

Socialism is no less flawed!

Unfettered it breeds sloth,

Equally deadly and devastating.

Where is the incentive to contribute?

Both commit their own deadly sins by existing.

Perhaps a blending would suffice,

Capitalism for self-sustenance,

Socialism for a dose of humanity and conscience.

If arrogance were put aside

Maybe then there would be hope,

Hope that what is broken could be mended

For the betterment of all

–Not just the select few.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Corporate Muscles Flexed Once Again

Corporate muscles flexed once again,

Trampling the rights of the common man.

What fools believe that corporations are people?

Why does one person’s belief trump that of another?

Where is the judicial in all of this?

Are they not charged with protecting the people’s rights?

They have become political tyrants,

Partisan and putrid as the legislative and executive.

“We The People” has become a joke;

Something relegated to the past,

Something we look back fondly on that once existed,

But sadly exist no more.

Individuals have no power to enact change

Where money and business rule.

Silenced by the dollar, we are ignored.

Was this erected in our framework,

Was this what the founders intended,

That man should be subjugated by greed and profit?

We cry foul at those who infringe on human and civil rights,

Yet we are nothing but hypocrites,

Infringing on the rights of our own.

There is no fairness under the law,

There is no justice under the law,

Unless you can afford to buy it.

Raise the gavel…

We’ve sold out to the highest bidder!

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Why I Ask Is It That We Choose To Destroy

Why I ask is it that we choose to destroy,

Leaving vast swaths of land ravaged,

Acres of ocean uninhabitable,

Water unfit for consumption,

Farms barren of life-giving crops,

Forests clear cut for human development

Exploitation of the gifts given to mankind,

Simply…I do not know!

Why is it that we deny the evidence,

Oceans rising to previously unrecorded levels,

Temperatures, the hottest in history,

Storms, perfect and oh so deadly,

Property destroyed and lives lost,

Still we refuse to believe,

Why–I do not know!

Why is it that we allow ourselves to be victims,

Plagued by profiteers,

Suffocated by our government,

Tolerant of our polarization,

Blind to our abuses,

Living as pawns to the powerful,

Yet we choose to ignore,

Why, I haven’t a clue!

Why we have allowed this to happen, I do not know,

We have become complacent,

Allowing our fellows to trample our dreams,

Stifling that which is our destiny

Instead of finding common ground,

Leaving us more distant than ever.

I wish I knew how to fix the ills of this world,

But I do not!

I like you, am only a temporary inhabitant,

Borrowing my time in this life.

Why must we destroy this precious world

Poisoning ourselves and those we love

With words and chemicals?

Material gain and profit are fleeting like this existence.

Shouldn’t we endeavor to make the most of what we’ve been given?

Isn’t this what it means to be human,

To use what we need leaving the rest for our future?

Perhaps I am naive,

A dreamer,

Or just hopeful,

But I must believe that it is not too late

For man to overcome his arrogance and greed.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

What Is Left Of This Experiment

What is left of this experiment

Could it be that we failed intention

Selling it to the highest bidder?

Look at us!

Brother fighting against brother,

Ideals defined by television news,

By partisan writing,

By ignorance and lack of humanity.

Not relegated to one party or another

This is but a symptom of the disease.

A plague we allowed to ferment;

Feeding venomous pustules by blindness,

Blindness to surroundings,

Blindness to the lies we’ve been fed.

Beginning many years ago,

Blamed on the latest–current ruler,

Yet it is ever so misplaced.

Each is just the latest in a long line of failures

Given to us by their parties,

Held up as a choice to the people.

Choice…ha, this is but a facade,

Leaving the people to believe that they staked claim.

This is but a belief of fools,

Those that fail to realize they are pawns,

Misled and offered the promised land,

Finding that there is nothing but hollowness.

What does it take to awaken the populous?

Will it take total collapse?

Will it take blood?

Might it take revolution?

This is our right…our obligation;

When our system fails we are called to fight,

Called to change what is broken,

Beckoned to change what is fruitless.

Perhaps we have run our course,

Made a great attempt at political perfection,

Failing over a long period of time.

Every society has suffered;

Drowning in its own pomposity,

Leaving it vulnerable to suffer its own consequences.

What will it take;

Absolute and total collapse I propose.

Imploding on our own girth,

Collapsing under our own weight,

Then being consumed by our foes.

When will will realize our fate…?

Not until we are reduced

To nothing but skin and bones.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Smoke Wafts O’er The Granite Mountainside

Smoke wafts o’er the granite mountainside;

Black and thick in a murderous haze.

Sulfur taints the crusty putrid air

Drowning out the glorious scent of honeysuckle and pine.

Babbling brooks once vocal no longer babble;

Their voices silenced by dam, drought and pollution.

Dry and cracked beds mar earths aging face

Leaving tinder for natures fiery furnace.

From my hilltop perch a murky brown sludge chokes the valley floor.

What hazards are these we should ask,

Though no one cares but for convenience and profit.

As we seek cause and cure for man’s maladies

Might we look no further than ourselves,

Our misuse of natures gifts,

Our burning of fossil fuels,

Pollution of our most precious resources–air and water,

Is it any wonder we are plagued with incurable disease?

Yet even the slightest attempts to change course

Are stalled by the profiteers gauntlet.

Science–when used for their benefit is gospel,

But dismissed as leftist propaganda

When the planet and climate are on stage.

Look beyond your four walls,

Breathe deeply,

Feel the burn in your tainted lungs,

Wipe the tears from your stinging eyes and look if you can,

Is this the vision of paradise that you sought

For you and your children?

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Suffocated (Acrostic)

Slowly–we are drowning

Under the weight of our own pomposity

Foolishly choking our humanity with laws

Failing to realize our divinity

Overcompensating

Could we not, would we not, if…

Allowed to live as we were designed

Think for ourselves

Ending domination by the oligarchy

Determining our own intention

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Ravenously You Look Upon This World

Ravenously you look upon this world as a pirates chest,

Waiting to be plundered and pillaged.

Do you not see wrong in this?

The spoils are not for the powerful.

In fact–they are not spoils at all,

But gifts given for our momentary use!

These “things” we so desperately seek,

They are but tokens…nothing,

Objects of desire that cannot save us,

I am quite certain of this.

These lands in which we stake our flags,

The waters which we claim as ours,

The air with which we do as we please,

Polluting, damming, acid rain, smog,

Thieving, eminent domain,

None of this is ours to possess!

We do not hold dominion over this world,

By doing so we destroy these gifts.

We war in the name of possession;

Subjugating others for profit,

Excluding those that we deem unfit.

Who made us king, master, dictator?

Some may say God,

That He made us lord over his creation,

But I disagree.

Did God grant Adam and Eve property rights,

Ownership of His design for them to do with as they pleased,

Did He sanction the hoarding of food, water or any other means of sustenance,

Or did His plan instruct them to take just what they need?

Since He would provide all that was required, greed and gluttony should have been unthinkable,

Yet we managed to bastardize His plan.

We overindulge in sustenance and material things,

Collecting property as if it was ours to keep,

Threatening to slaughter those that trespass.

Taking all that exists in this world to share and claiming it as our own.

Cultures considered less civilized than ours still exist,

They don’t need a mortgage for the ground on which they sleep,

They don’t feel the need to claim possession of the air which they breath,

Nor feel the need to control the waters,

They just live,

Taking no more than they can carry,

Leaving no trace behind.

Is there not elegance in their simplicity?

We lost our way eons ago,

Our path overgrown with weeds.

Still there is hope,

Though unlikely in my lifetime,

That we may once again trample a path

Back to our divine design.

Living simply,

Trusting that there is enough for everyone,

Sharing with those in need;

Unrealistic perhaps,

But this is my dream.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

What Lies Beyond We Can Never Know (Sonnet)

What lies beyond we can never know,

To fear the unknown is for the spirit weak.

Perception is purely what we show

And carried on the words we speak.

.

When we offer love to those who need,

Love returns a thousand fold.

Through this we plant a heavenly seed,

Divine this spirit we cannot hold.

.

Ours is not to gather and hoard,

But to share all that we’ve been graced.

These good deeds will never be scored,

Nor should we count the blessings placed.

.

This is why I believe we’re here, to help those who have lost their way.

This is how it has always been though often times we neglect to portray.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

 

A Dot On The Map

A dot on the map,

Another town with an odd name,

A place people pass through,

Ignored on their way somewhere else.

This was years ago;

O’ the town is still there,

But gone is its charm.

Gone are the things I loved most about it,

Gone are the wonderful pines

Standing tall next to Beal’s Hardware Store.

Gone is the pure cedar creek,

Gone are the open spaces,

Gone are the mom and pop stores dotting Main Street,

Gone are quaint family owned restaurants,

Gone is Porcellini’s Farm Market and Nursery,

Gone is Armand’s Auto Body,

Gone is Duffy’s Yacht Bar,

Gone is the wildlife preserve,

Gone are the wetlands,

Gone is the egret,

Gone are the scenic views unless you can afford them,

Gone are the commercial fishermen and clammers,

Their way of life is dying.

The pines have been bulldozed for Walmart,

Beal’s shuttered because they couldn’t compete with Home Depot,

Porcellini’s wilted and blew away

Armand passed and no one wanted to take up his fight

Duffy’s dried up under the pressure of Applebee’s,

A beautiful way of life was strangled and buried,

Caving in under the weight of corporations.

They don’t care about us…profits are their only friend.

We see it happen everyday,

In small towns all across America.

Towns founded on long time local businesses

Bankrupt because they can’t compete.

Local people forced to settle for less and pay more.

Some say, “If they don’t come here they will just go somewhere else”.

“What about the jobs?”

What about them?

Maybe you would have to commute to work,

But at least our town would still be–our town,

A place we would be proud to call home.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

Poetry Prompt #2 –  The Places We Are  by We Drink Because We’re Poets

Were Today Thy Last (Sonnet)

Were today thy last, wouldst thou giveth all ye had,

Or wouldst thou hoardeth as the miser does.

Hiding his worth from all his lasses and lads,

Vowing to take it with him as if thy soul it was.

~

Foolish art thou who believeth this lie,

For nothing of this world shalt survive the beyond.

To ash it doth turn on the day that we die,

It matters not how precious nor how fond.

~

Thy treasures are but bobbles, no worth doth they hold,

Once thou hath taken thy deep and final breath.

Arrogance and greed, both foolhardy and bold,

Revealed as thou art lowered to thy grave upon death.

~

Giveth now with the fullest of hearts for thy time upon earth is but brief,

Resulting in lightness and joy in thy heart to thy soul this shalt come as relief.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~