Comedy and Tragedy – A Tanka

Living this stage show

Scripted as Heaven or Hell

So Shakespearean

At times its a comedy

At others a tragedy

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

What Awaits

I do not pretend, to know the truth,

Anymore than you…or the sun…or the moon,

Proving nothing short of ignorance otherwise.

~

What I do know, is that death is inevitable;

Whether life be a second, a minute or decades,

Of this I am certain.

~

Just as I am certain of my origin;

Beyond progeny…beyond paternity,

My essence existed before that of this earthly vessel,

And will certainly continue beyond it’s worldly demise,

Our human science has assured.

~

I am, however steeped in uncertainty,

Uncertain of what lay in wait after this finite adventure.

~

Will I be swallowed by consuming blackness,

Drifting endlessly…disjointedly into nothingness?

~

Will I be welcomed at Heaven’s pearled gates,

Greeted with open arms into a paradise?

~

Maybe Hell hath set it’s sights on my mortal soul,

Repaying me for the sinful life I’ve led?

~

Or will my soul join with others

To live once again,

In the vessel of another of the newly-born?

~

These all, are questions of faith,

Your faith…my faith,

Questions for which I have no answers.

~

After a lifetime of curious inquiry,

I hold no greater insight into the afterlife,

Than were so endowed in me at my birth.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Drowning in Life – A Tanka

As the dam breaks wide

I’m caught up in the deluge

Left gasping for air

Sights and sounds swallow me whole

The joys of life and learning

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Fallen – A Tanka

Hands used to hard work

By night, lay calloused and broke

Like a fallen oak

Brought to it’s knees by axemen

Split and forgotten

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

With Wisdom Comes Ignorance – A Tanka

I’ve looked within me

Trying to understand life

Yet still it eludes

Wisdom has not come with age

I know less each passing day

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Life of Lessons

Image Credit: esrc.ac.uk

Image Credit: esrc.ac.uk

Influenced by birth

Life determines points-of-view

Like watching a film

Sometimes a panorama

Other times a flawed close up

~

A Tanka

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Love of Family

Consumed by treasure

Riches are not wealth alone

Like the love of gold

Love of family enriches

Living on after we’re gone

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Over A Barrel

Coffee thick and strong,

Cooked over an panhandlers stove.

~

A barrel fire for warmth,

Trash confiscated as fuel.

~

Emitting the foulest of odors,

Room for but a few.

~

Night frigid under tenement shadows,

Shanties erected haphazard.

~

Rags moth eaten and ragged,

Held up by anything scavenged.

~

Shelters vulnerable to the storm,

Little choice in the matter.

~

Homes taken,

Jobs shipped overseas.

~

Children hungry and cold,

Let down by an unsympathetic people.

~

A movie scene?

No, these are real lives.

~

Real people,

This is life on the street.

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Gift – A Tanka

What we forge in life

Only lives on when we share

Like gifts at Christmas

The joy is in the giving

Expecting naught in return

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Finer Things – A Tanka

merlot

A walk on the beach

Sand, wind and sun renew

Like a fine Merlot

Warming one’s heart and one’s soul

While pleasing to the palate

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~