Tag Archives: loneliness

Today – A Ghazal

O’ my love, why must I suffer this hell today.

Like so many days before, I fell today.

.

I’m trying to move on, but my heart won’t allow,

It’s afraid I’ll forget you if I quell today.

.

Your passing lives on in my blood and my bones,

Like a mystic potion I’m under it’s spell today.

.

Without you my sweet I am no longer whole,

Subsisting as nothing but a broken shell today.

.

Tonight I will drop to my knees and I’ll pray

That pain can be confined to it’s cell today.

.

Through tears in my eyes, for comfort I look.

There is no one to whom I can tell today.

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So with a heart that is heavy Dom must wish you goodnight,

I’ll bid you adieu and farewell today.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: I have to say that this is the toughest poetic form that I have tried to date.  It requires a great deal of forethought to have it make sense and yet I still am not sure if I succeeded.  If you want to give a new form a try, this might be the one to put you to the test.  It certainly tested me.

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FORM: Ghazal – (Pronunciation: “guzzle”) Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love, medieval Persian poets embraced the ghazal, eventually making it their own. Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word (the qafia, which appears twice in the first couplet). The last couplet includes a proper name, often of the poet’s. In the Persian tradition, each couplet was of the same meter and length, and the subject matter included both erotic longing and religious belief or mysticism.

Loneliness – A Septolet

Loneliness,

self imposed

out of shyness,

A struggle.

 .

Afraid

of hurt,

I’ll remain invisible.

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~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Silence Deafening – A Tanka

Silence deafening

Alone with my thoughts of you

Tormenting my soul

Will loneliness be my fate

Led by love’s vicious blindness

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Separate Lives Together

We live,

Separate lives together.

Sharing a roof,

A bed.

Lying back to back.

Void of touch,

Good night

Whispered to an old friend,

Settling for the mundane.

Waking hours,

Life lived apart,

Turmoil of the day,

Work, stress, aggravation,

Too tired to talk.

Meals,

Separate ends of the couch,

Silence for company.

Clink of fork and knife,

White noise,

Breaking tense solitude.

Grown apart,

Here for convenience,

Home, cars, bills, children.

Chains,

Anchors to this hell,

Repetitive, repulsive, depressing,

Loneliness consumes,

Leaving no way out,

Stuck,

In separate lives…

Together.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Long Nights

Long nights spent in quiet sitting

Hand-in-hand oh how fitting

With joyous smile upon your face

Soft and delicate like cotton lace

Your gentle touch by slender fingers

Whence we part the feeling lingers

These simple things forever endear

In every moment I have you hear

No more in life could ever I pray

In health and sickness still you stayed

With love and thanks I hold you close

My lover and friend I cherish most

Praising God daily you’re here with me

For without you so alone I’d be

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Footsteps

Footsteps travel on as far as the eye can see

Side-by-side in lockstep just as straight as straight could be

I followed for a time to see where they would go

After a while only one set remained in the sand it did show

I stopped in amazement as they up and disappeared

What must have happened, something tragic I feared

Turning in circles no steps did depart

They just seemed to stop never returning whence they start

The second set went on at a steady measured pace

Never picking up stride, never seeming to race

I followed for a time the solitary set of prints

Nothing about their direction offered any hints

Where they might be going I hadn’t had a clue

Walking straight and narrow they never veered from true

Feet tired and achy the end it seemed in sight

Time had passed so quickly as day gave in to night

Before the light had faded I saw a chapel up ahead

A tiny cemetery, some benches and a shed

Seated on the bench, a solitary elderly man

With a bouquet of red roses held tightly in his hand

Clearing my throat so not to startle or to scare

I took a seat on his bench and struggled not to stare

Mustering up the courage I asked if he was alone

He responded, no he wasn’t in the gentlest of tones

Looking round and round there was no one else in sight

The story that he told turned me a paler shade of white

He told me that he took this stroll nearly every day

Just he and his loving wife would walk, hold hands and pray

With a smile he continued in a soft and mild tone

That part way through their walk she couldn’t manage alone

He’d pick her up and carry her the rest of their way

Her arms around his neck begging him to stay

Home is where he’d take her and lay her down to rest

Pointing to a tiny grave, he frowned, “I know its not the best”

But I promised her I’d be with her each and every day

We’d been together 60 years I knew no other way

Tonight I told her I’d be home soon never again to leave

The pain was getting far too hard as each evening alone he’d grieve

Patting my hand with trembling legs, hunched over he did stand

Shuffling over to his darling’s grave he placed the roses from his hand

I sat and watched as he walked away ‘til he’d wandered out of sight

Never again did I see the man who endeared me on that night

He’d kept the promise never to leave that he made to his love

His tiny grave, right next to hers, they’re together up above.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

This Solitary Tree

This solitary tree,

Utterly alone amongst the brown grasses.

Nary a leaf can I see,

iIgnored by the traveling masses.

~

No birds find cause to seek shelter,

No buds rise to show you love.

Dry and brittle in the noonday swelter,

Limbs raised to Heaven hoping for rain from above.

~

What have you done to be shunned…an outcast,

Sentence too cruel for such an innocent one.

Punishment levied you’d hoped you’d outlast,

With each passing day a new days begun.

~

I look on with sorrow and the shedding of tears,

As I see myself in you, one and the same.

With scarcely a friend after all of these years,

I’ve no one to place, except me with the blame.

~

I too just as you have my soul laid out bare,

A wish for companionship to stay.

Broken and weak I expose to the air,

The longing for love I keep locked away.

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Heart Grows Fonder – A Tanka

The heart grows fonder

Absence, distance amplify

Plucking at the soul

Loneliness tears me hollow

I long for your warm embrace

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Scarred

Scars, fresh raised and red

Born of stainless razors edge

Bleed…to make me feel

Numb, I do not understand

What flawed design produced me

Sleeves long– Hide the shame

Attempts for naught this hollow fill

Am I all alone

Left to cut and poke and prod

To wake up the walking dead

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

I Beg Of Heaven – A Villanelle

I beg of heaven for light of day

For night fills dreams of you with fear

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

What can I do, what dare I say

To break this darkness with love and cheer

I beg of heaven for light of day

~

This deep despair I keep at bay

In hopes you’ll return my cherished dear

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

I never would your heart betray

My passion felt I have made so clear

I beg of heaven for light of day

~

Were I to change would then you stay

Anything I’d do to mend heartbreak severe

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

To you, I promise to never stray

Your honor I’ll guard and never besmear

I beg of heaven for light of day

On bended knee in tears I pray

~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

** I thought I would give a new style a try.  The Villanelle is in the form of A1 B A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.  It is very structured, but was interesting to write.  I would appreciate any feedback you may wish to provide.  Thanks.