My heart cries for you
Helplessly twisted in knots
But what can I do
Comfort is all I can give
While you are curled in grief
Wiping tears away
Embracing you as lover
And as dearest friend
You are my reason to live
My love and my everything
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Waking to the rhythmic white noise
Television’s twinkling salt and pepper blur
Foil covered rabbit ears like periscopes
Reflect his fractured image…almost blinding
It hurts to sit up straight
Back hunched from decades of labor
Crumbs drop like snow from his cardigan
“What did I eat?”, he mumbles on deaf ears
As gnarled and twisted hands
Brush his remnants to the floor
Feed for roaches and rats that call this home
Day and time are of little concern
What does it matter.
Tormented knees crack
Perched unsteadily beneath him
All he can do is shuffle holding on for balance
The refrigerator fights back as he opens it
The dim light only blackens the mouldy fresco
Decorating the walls and shelves.
Spoiled milk curls the nose
“Been around awhile.” he whispered
Paying it no more mind
Warm beer will have to do
The crack of the tab and the “pusssssh”
Join the metronomic shuffle of his stocking feet
Moaning, he sits
Joints aching from medicine he can’t afford
Alcohol will have to do
Each sip provides little relief
Tired of living his eyes grow heavy
Sleep returns…to the rhythmic white noise
And the televisions salt and pepper blur
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
The light fails me,
I open my eyes,
Hoping to see more clearly,
But there is no focus.
~
Nothing is as is should be,
My head hurts in the painful quiet,
There is no comfort,
In this cold empty bed.
~
I drove me to this madness,
And you, away in disgust,
I didn’t try to stop you,
Stubbornly shunning you.
~
Your tears did not deter,
I swore you’d be back,
How could you live without me,
After all these years.
~
But emptiness speaks volumes,
Shouting your answer,
“I’m gone!”
On my once deaf ears.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Stove burners blue flame
Dangerous heat
Warming frigid trembling hands
Radiator cold
Rent control all he can afford
Children absent and estranged
He’s invisible in this world
Old friends to the old man gone
Passed before his time
Rotary telephone shows its age
Symbiotically keeping pace
Silent and out-of-date
Thoughts of youth flutter
Flashbacks in his fragmenting mind
Remembrances of companions
Lost loves
And a wife
Still 20 to him,
After a lonely decade adrift
Living because he won’t die
He longs to sleep forever
But it is not God’s will
Not his time
Shuffling to the stove
He warms his trembling hands
To wait for meals-on-wheels
Or the Lord to take him home
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image Credit: timesunion.com
A knock on the door
The sound of locks and latches
A wary welcome
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
I blink and you’re gone
Half our bed is crisp and cold
Empty like my heart
Broken by my one true love
Destined to wander alone
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Smell of cigarettes,
Stale beer stains,
Threadbare carpet,
Old men,
Hunched over mahogany,
Varnish long faded,
Years of harsh use,
Stained glass,
Discolored by smokey haze,
Dirty ashtrays,
Artwork for the nicotine addicted,
Spilled whiskey,
Tears,
Young men,
Worn beyond their years,
Chasing elder dreams,
Following their path,
Door to stool and back,
Work feeds addiction,
Paycheck to paycheck,
All to payoff the devil,
Memories of yesterday,
Expunged by today,
Innocuous when numb,
Hey bartender…
Make it a double!
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image Credit: clevelandmovieblog.com
The telephone rings
A friend calls to meet for lunch?
Sorry, wrong number
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
This passionate heart,
Buried deep within, beating in rhythm with your every breath,
Yet I cannot find the right words to tell you so.
~~
Tongue tied by emotions in wont of regurgitation,
Swallowed back due to my own apprehension,
These burning embers sour in the pit of my stomach.
~~
I glance your way in hopes of recognition
Momentary contact from your crystalline blue eyes gives me hope
Until I realize you are looking through me.
~~
I am veiled from your sight,
The background in the play that is your life,
Dressing to complete your pretty picture.
~~
What must I do to lead in your panoply,
All that I am I would gladly bestow upon you,
Without hesitation or precondition.
~~
If only I was endowed with the fortitude,
But I am not and never have been,
Instead my timidity consumes me.
~~
Breathless I am left to watch you from the sidelines,
Only dreaming of what might have been,
Wishing that fate had shined a loving light upon us.
~~
But it was not to be,
As destiny has dictated the climax of this cruel tango,
Leaving one of us to be the wallflower.
~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~
By D. R. DiFrancesco
Wind blows icy and sharp,
Sidewalks caked in gum and grime,
Could pass for Art Deco,
If not for their hearts of stone.
A biting chill rising,
Stinging the prone soul,
The corner she calls home,
Talking and motioning to her alter-ego.
Wrapped in a windbreaker of plastic,
Once for someones rubbish,
Black and torn,
This, her life fortune.
Passers-by avoid her gaze,
The unseen don’t exist in their convenient world ,
While scorn cast its ugly breath upon her,
Disguised as laughter and whispers.
She’s gone now,
Passed away, put away, moved on,
Her home, white washed and sterile,
Did you even know who she was, did she ever exist?
She could have been your mother,
Possibly a sister or a family friend,
Someone you could have loved,
She could have even been you.
Dom DiFrancesco 