The Empty Bed – Tanka

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 ~~

Make it a Double

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 ~~

Spider’s Web

I gave you everything,

Heart,

Soul,

All that you asked,

You played coy,

Feeding my appetite for love,

With promises and feigned passion,

Luring me into your web,

Wrapping me in a silky cocoon,

Warm and safe,

Nestled in you arms,

A deceitful security,

If only I had not been so blind,

I would have recognized your fangs,

Impaling me to numbness,

Helpless and oblivious,

Under your anesthetic poison,

I waited trembling,

For you to squander all that I am,

Weakened by the deluge,

Blood and spirit abate,

Eyes flutter and roll,

Your beauty,

First limpid, fades to black,

The nothingness that is your soul,

Emptied,

You discarded my hollowed husk,

Leaving me to crumble,

And scatter to the four winds.

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Say Goodbye – Haiku

Image Credit: toptenz.com

Image Credit: toptenz.com

Tears redden blue eyes

Burning pools sting from the lose

Time to say goodbye

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Missed Sign – Haiku

Image Credit: my.englishclub.com

Image Credit: my.englishclub.com

Tears roll down your cheek

A cry for me to comfort

What a fool I’ve been

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Family Honor

Two star struck lovers bequeathed to the night,

Passion, deceit for to hide out of sight.

She…questionable virtue…from the wrong side of the tracks,

Parental displeasure of refinement she lacks.

Refinement nor virtue does fail to impart,

For love…it does blind in matters of the heart.

Inconsolable his father takes matters to hand,

This tryst must dissolve on this he demands.

Honor of family trumps sanctity of life,

She must be parlayed before he takes her his wife.

So twisted was his mind he could scarcely think clear,

The evil he did plot against his son held so dear.

Blackness in his heart…the tramp won’t be missed,

When…how…on the table pound his fist!

Finally he takes her, it matters not from where,

Kicking and screaming he has her by the hair.

Raging and seething to the lake they did go,

Softness of ground, so much easier to sow.

She fought for her life, to the end no avail,

Fate she did meet by his father…did impale.

Twisted face…drove the father to remorse,

For the good of the family, I must stay the course.

Sweat pouring down, the hole he did dig,

Shovel like a flash moving dirt, leaf and twig.

Body limp and lifeless, a dirty silent face,

Angelic in its beauty he laid her into place.

What have I done as each shovel flew,

Too late it was now there is nothing more to do.

Vial task now complete, heavy heart he did carry,

Back to his home…no one more the wary.

Son perplexed by absence, he couldn’t help but worry,

Where might she have gone, without trace, in a hurry.

For days upon end decline did his mood,

Nary desire for sleep, for water or for food.

His father stood watch as his son’s life did languish,

Conscience torn asunder he succumbed to his anguish.

Little time did it take for the boys light to fade,

Result of the father’s despondent bed that he made.

He buried his boy not long after this,

Family collapsed he was so sorely missed.

The father, for all his attempts to defend,

Suffered his sin, one he could never mend.

He passed like his son fairly soon thereafter,

Life spun out of control an irreparable disaster.

Hell most surely laid out it’s red carpet for him,

The Devil delighting in this most thoughtless of whims.

For all his grandiose and pompous plans he did draw,

He lost his family, his son, his life and beautiful daughter-in-law.

 

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

A Leap Of Faith

A leap of faith,

Whether in love,

Whether in life,

Whether at death,

Waking is to plummet,

Headlong into the unforeseen.

A mystery without end,

Until we breathe our final breath,

Meeting whatever fortune,

We so feverishly wove,

Through thoughts and deeds,

Living absent of tomorrow,

We cannot know,

We cannot want to know,

What fate awaits,

On our final day.

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Aberrant

Ire stabs at the heart,

Drawing blood,

Cuts and barbs of abhorrence,

Scarring the flesh,

Raised and angry,

Wounds won’t heal,

Relentless punishment,

Begging forgiveness is futile,

Shattered trust is rarely mendable,

Crawling through broken glass,

Is preferable to this agony,

It is not to be,

Absolution inconceivable,

Betrayal has set course,

Seeking love,

In the arms of another,

Aberrant.

 

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Soul Mate – Haiku

Image Credit: tumblr.com

Image Credit: tumblr.com

Beauty is skin deep

Seen through the beholders eye

A soul mate for one

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Rose

The rose,

Petals clutched tight,

Withholds the beauty of it’s flower.

~~

Quietly she waits,

While lovers challenge for affection,

In hopes of unlocking her secrets.

~~

She does not reveal these secrets easily,

Preferring games,

Teasing those hoping to have the key.

~~

While the courtship continues,

She revels in the chaos,

Hiding what lays behind her silken robes.

~~

She is not modest,

Nor shy in spite of appearance,

Instead she is a manipulator.

~~

Prickly and pretentious,

Gladly drawing first blood,

Before confessing her undying love.

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~