The cardboard roof does little to keep the icy rain and bone-chilling cold from compounding his pain. Looked upon as a piece of worthless trash, he is invisible to passersby..
Perhaps if they realized they were just one paycheck away from his Hell, they’d offer him a bit more sympathy.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Stench of urine,
Cardboard shacks,
Shopping carts,
Tattered clothes,
Hand-me-downs from the dumpster I suppose.
Rummaging through waste baskets,
Feasting on tainted food scraps,
Hiding in the shadows,
Sleeping on steam grates,
Misused,
Abused,
Something less than human.
Left for dead in the cold,
Filth in the form of flesh and blood,
But have you ever looked into their eyes,
Heard their hearts beat,
Seen them cry,
Gasp for their final breath?
I’m sure you haven’t
As you stepped over their broken bodies,
Avoiding them like the plague,
Chuckling at their despair,
On your way to your comfortable life.
Can’t you take a moment to lend a hand,
A little food,
A little shelter,
A bit of cash,
Instead of treating them like lepers,
Feeding off teets of the man..
You don’t know them,
You don’t know their stories,
Their hardships,
Their tragedies,
But you should…
They are our brothers and sister after all.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Joy and glad tidings
Hallmarks of this gleeful time
Lost by so many
Those without means, abandoned
Are left to suffer alone
No tree, gifts or warmth
Is afforded to these souls
They’re invisible
Perhaps the Christmas spirit
Was meant as a reminder
That giving is more
Than gifts to friends and family
It’s to all mankind
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
How can I complain,
With food, shelter and clothing
A place to call home.
I am not ravaged by war,
Despised by much of the world.
This joyous season
Take the time to remember…
We are truly blessed.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Barbed wire gauntlet
Raised to stem the human tide,
Too much too quickly.
Balancing fear with chaos…
Another iron curtain.
Displaced and hopeless,
Longing for Europe’s safety,
Left in no-man’s land.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dressed in their finest, the mogul and his mistress approached the steps of the marble behemoth. They were running late for the gubernatorial ball and the inconvenience of the vagrant lying before them just served to infuriate.
Yelling obscenities at his still body…they did not realize he was dead.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Broken by living
An old man lies fetally
Praying for his death
Torturous life on the street
Trades its mercy for your soul
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
We have forgotten!
The New Deal has been destroyed
And we don’t see it.
Social Security and
Medicare under attack.
Cleverly disguised
By the “old standby”…tax cuts
They try to bankrupt;
Forcing the extinction of
Our long beloved safety nets.
When will we wake up!
The middle-class is dying,
While privilege thrives.
When we are homeless and sick
Maybe then we’ll remember.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Embed from Getty Images
Tin cup in his hand
Begging for change in the rain
Hoping to survive
Tens of thousands of dollars
Spent to sit on the fifty
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
There’s no place like home
Family huddled around
Sharing Christmas cheer
Unless home is on the street
And your cheer is someones trash
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A little reminder to be generous to those in need at this time and all times of the year, if for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.
Dom DiFrancesco 