We aren’t born to hate
Instead it is something learned
~~ Taught by ignorance
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
We aren’t born to hate
Instead it is something learned
~~ Taught by ignorance
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
I entertained the thought of loving you,
But a selfish heart was blind to all except its own conceits.
No time for anyone else,
Nothing but what satisfied its needs.
You offered love,
You offered kindness, compassion and passion,
The fool that I was missed it
Or chose not to see it.
Really–what’s the difference;
Blind is blind,
Ignorance is ignorance,
Splitting hairs is all that it is.
Does it really matter what its called?
You said you were leaving,
Did I try to stop you…
No!
I watched you walk away;
Not one tear in my eye,
Nary an ache in my heart,
Only perhaps a touch of relief for the freedom.
It makes me sick to think about it,
Embarrassed, ashamed.
Years passed and chance reared its head,
You never gave up on me,
Never hated me as I hated myself.
Your love for me remained though I didn’t deserve it.
I was not worthy.
I eventually grew up, throwing aside my childish ways,
Realizing that who stood before me was exactly who I wanted,
Exactly who I wanted to give my love to.
You took me in,
Sheltered me,
Loved me,
Forgave me my insensitivity,
My foolhardiness;
Never reminding me of it..
How can I ever thank you enough for saving me
…From myself
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Today He did rise
As foretold by the Bible
Many years ago
Still the lesson hasn’t been learned
Refusing to live in love
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Stares
Talking in hushed tones
Diverting eye contact
Ducking low so not to be seen
Prejudice and hatred
What could be more obvious
Skin color
Accent
Weight
Height
Disability
Religion
Sexual orientation
Dress
All poor excuses for ignorance
Next time–look in the mirror
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Privy to others conversations, my ears are burning,
Listening to the incessant feeding of negatives hunger.
Voraciously seeking the sympathy, they’re yearning,
Causing me to wince, my nerves they shudder.
~
Perpetuating hatred–conspiracy under guise of neutrality,
Practicing not what they publicly preach.
Choosing instead to live a different reality,
One that’s close-minded, but so in their reach.
~
Why is it that man prefers deafness, to be blind,
Rather than change the narrowness of anuninformed course.
Archaic is their thinking of the most ignorant kind,
Thinking they can change others, spewing shallow discourse.
~
If only they would look inside to goodness buried deep within,
No place could vile hatred hide, the world’s healing would begin.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Its not an excuse for inhumanity
God did not make us omnipotent
Nor did He make us judge and jury
Only He commands such authority
Racism, discrimination, hate
Arrogance, intolerance
None have a place in civilized society
Courage to withstand is paramount
Even though they will want us to burn
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Discrimination
By religious objection
Legally sanctioned
Isn’t it time we grew up
And let bygones be bygones
Yet some of us can’t
Gays can be refused service
In Arizona
That is if the law passes
Welcome back to the stone age
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
~
AUTHOR’S NOTE: For those that are interested here is a link to the story that prompted me to write this piece. Arizona is placing a bill in front of the governor for her signature or veto that allows individuals, businesses and religious institutions to deny service or admission, primarily to members of the LGBT community so long as they can show that their discriminatory actions were prompted by their religious convictions. This is disgraceful in my opinion and certainly does not make me proud to live in this state.
Those who quickly judge
Can miss the greatness in life
That stands before them
Like ostriches in darkness
With their heads stuck in the sand
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
I look upon such great divide
Families fighting through verbal battle
No middle ground, forced to choose sides
Opinions grasped like so much chattel
~
Scarcely since Our Civil War
Have differences raised so much ire
Tell me–what is all the anger for
Fueling tinder to spark the fire
~
Inundated torrent of adapted news
All with clearly chosen leanings
Partisan sides, a burning fuse
Caring not for truth or meaning
~
We drink like cattle at the trough
Hearing what we choose to hear
Everyone else’s minds gone soft
Perpetuating mood of hate and fear
~
One and all looking for someone to blame
Misplaced trust keeps fanning the fire
As rhetoric strives to focus their aim
Their lust for blood on a funeral pyre
~
Once an asset was a public informed
Now we are led astray like sheep
Our minds and senses propaganda stormed
To the point we dream it in our sleep
~
Questions arise, what liar to believe
None of them are worthy of trust
Making their quest to cheat and deceive
We pray their riches turn to rust
~
When oh when will we ever learn
Its up to us to force a change
Instead, watching while we crash and burn
Isn’t our complacency rather strange
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Thirst is not a disease
Nor hunger a plague waged as a personal attack..
The dirty and downtrodden are not animals with opposing thumbs
Foraging through trash bins for food.
Their children are not parasites to be frowned upon!
They love just as you do with the same wants and needs.
Hands cracked and calloused know hard work.
Many toil hard and long for the barest of necessities
Only to fall short, thankful for assistance.
Yet you despise the poor collectively,
Lazy, blood suckers, bums, leeches,
Used as terms of endearment.
Speaking as though you know them or their circumstance
You display nothing but ignorance.
What do you know of their lives, their pain, their poverty?
Many are victims of economics,
Failing of health or disability,
Casualties of familial history,
Deprived of education,
Forgotten or blamed by the very souls with the power to change.
Greed and loathing blind,
Banishing compassion and humanity to the pits of hell.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~