Patriotic (Acrostic)

Purveyors of hate

Attempt to intimidate those of unlike minds–

Turning to violence and angry rhetoric to force their points-of-view.

Reality eludes them as they long for their diluted utopia.

I do not despise my country nor my brothers,

Only those despots among us that desire to bastardize it in their image.

They and they alone are treasonous,

Ignorant and insidious,

Corrupting all that is good in the name of the flag.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Walking Away

Walking away,

Withdrawing into my conscience as my conscience dictates.

~

This water-cooler talk, here say, utter nonsense,

Tearing down the fabric that binds us;

Serving agendas of personal gain or revenge

Humiliation or mistrust.

What purpose does this serve?

Certainly none to better our kind.

~

I neither want nor take any part in these juvenile games,

As I have been victim myself on more than one occasion.

Few can pronounce they have not I propose.

~

Harken back to the embarrassment, the anger, the trauma;

Was this pleasurable—most surely it wasn’t.

What pleasure can be derived by such caterwauling?

None I submit, but momentary satisfaction

followed by regret and sorrow if your heart yet beats.

~

Would not your energies better serve kindness and generosity

than the degradation of our comrades?

~

Would it not be better to think before we speak?

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~