Threats of violence,
Assassination condoned
Where is his outrage!
He stokes the fires of hatred
Ignoring consequences
This is disgusting
And must be squashed abruptly,
He’s clearly not fit!
Still crowds are cheering for him
Egging on his fickle rants
They are lunatics
Claiming to be patriots,
When did we devolve.
This election has choices
And Trump must not be the one!
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Can you smell the winds of change?
Not confined by border or ethnicity;
It cares not about race, creed or color.
For so long the grass has been trampled,
Crushed under ornate boot heels,
Mowed down by the sharpest of blades
With no thought of the consequences.
Resilience is the way of nature.
Young shoots and saplings rebound,
They cannot be kept down.
Can you smell the winds of change
As they comes for you?
Your palaces and coffers cannot protect you,
Shuttered windows cannot save you,
We are not fooled by your fained sympathy,
Looking us in the eyes from marbled balconies
And lying through your yellowed teeth.
You do not know our condition!
You do not know our pain
As yours are the boots that have ground us to dust!
Take your hollow words and scream into the wind.
Choke on the vomit you spew,
Knowing that the end is near
And it is you that will be crushed
For all of the harm that you have done.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
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Ambiguity
The lifeblood of politics
Flipping and flopping
&nbasp;
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A living wage…
Is it too much to ask?
The unions fought for you,
Many died for you
Yet now you treat them as evil.
Who does this benefit?
Look at your stagnant wage,
Feel the fear of losing your job.
Each closed door meeting brings anxiety.
There is no loyalty from above,
Dollars and cents are their gods now.
You have been weakened and betrayed,
But you don’t see it…this is capitalism.
The promised trickle has all but dried up,
Living paycheck-to-paycheck your way of life.
Whatever happened to the middle class,
The comfortable life, retirement,
It is all just a dream relegated to history,
While the upper crust bathes in their gold.
Still you cast your ballot for your own demise.
Lower taxes will not bring you comfort,
Later retirement will not bring you joy,
Minimum wage will not support you,
Healthcare vouchers will not sustain you,
Social Security will not carry you to the end.
So what is it you want?
We are being ravaged at every turn,
Still you are too blind to see it.
Watch these buffoons on stage,
Telling you they care about you…the little man?
These millionaires and billionaires don’t care about you!
They only care for themselves
And their wealthy friends that bought them.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
To conform is to lie to yourself,
To suck the joy out of this finite life.
It was never meant to be locked in a cage,
It was never meant to be stuffed in a box
Shrouded behind impenetrable walls
That blot out the sun and what lay beyond.
That is not living, it is merely subsisting.
Yet this is what our fears, our parents, our cultures preach,
Conform or you will be treated as an outcast.
Well then…perhaps an outcast is what I long to be.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Don’t you ever weary;
War, propaganda, lying
Corrupting your soul,
Disillusioning our minds.
Done with a smile–
You think us likely to believe,
But we can only be fooled for so long.
Loved ones die for your greed,
Laid to waste in foreign lands.
Brought back with thin veiled honors,
Do you think that flag draped coffins comfort?
They do not!
They cannot!
Tell me–how many barrels of oil is their flesh worth,
A few cents at the pump,
A few more billions in your coffers?
They mean nothing to you,
You do not know them,
You have not held them at birth,
You will not grieve for them when they die,
But you surely will forget them as if they never existed.
You should drop to your knees and beg forgiveness,
Confessing your sinful, criminal ways.
Then again why?
It would all be for naught
For even then you would not be saved.
Such is the price paid–
When the seven deadly sins become
…Your lords and masters.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Broken hearts and broken dreams left among the ashes
Ruins in the wake of the tsunami–your selfish desires.
Scavengers scour through the wreckage for sustenance
Finding nothing but crumbs left for them to fight over.
Is commitment so distasteful that exile is the only cure?
What of those cast aside, banished to Elba–victims,
Are they simply expendable for your greater good?
O’ what blackness must thrive in your narcissistic soul,
Pitiful…flourishing in this loveless existence of yours,
Choosing loneliness over the love and warmth of another,
Hiding like a coward behind a cold and hollow heart.
Like a lion you search for your next meal
Feasting, gorging hungrily as if this may be your last,
But you know it won’t, there is always another prey,
One that thinks it can tame you to save themselves.
Who is fooling who in this eternal struggle?
You are the sly one, knowing this is sleight of hand
Leading on those that offer you their hearts
Until you grow weary of their affections.
Tossing them on the heap
You grind their souls and their passions into dust.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
O calloused heart, how for art thou still beating,
Glances cast at thee thou hath repelled.
Taking flight at thy masters pleading,
How couldst thee in good conscience foretell.
Thou art more beautiful than the rose,
Tho thy thorns art no less deadly.
No more couldst I offer to thee my betrothed,
Than to be forthright of mind and steady.
Nay–this was not enough,
Thy blood and soul hast proved tainted.
Coarse is thine heart when passions in the rough,
Dante’s tragedy to my core hath been painted.
Were thou only more gentle of spirit, more tender and kind,
In my true love thou wouldst bath and no truer love wouldst thou find.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Looking back upon the boy of youth,
The world seemed such a hopeful place;
So full of promise and full of truth,
Enough for all the human race.
Government a partner and a friend,
One we did not need to fear.
Alway there with a helping hand,
Their mission statement was oh so clear.
Protect and nurture and not infringe;
The mandate since the fathers founded.
Avoid at all cost a spending binge;
Ideals of old were firmly grounded.
Now this world once so full of hope
Is sliding down corruptions slippery slope.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
~
Authors Note: This is my first attempt at a sonnet, I know it isn’t quite as Shakespearean as Shakespeare would have liked it, but it seemed to work for the topic.
Fear-mongering and terror
Spouted from the hallowed halls.
Worry not they shout,
We are here to protect you,
We know better than you,
We know the dangers.
Think…
At what cost?
They ask us to trust them,
Give us just a little they say,
Just a touch of your freedom.
It’s for a noble cause!
We only need it for a short while.
Like fools we consent;
Placating us under their umbrella of protection.
With each fearful rant they ask for more.
See how we kept you safe,
Nothing has happened,
But they are out there
Waiting to pounce,
They want you dead!
Asking one more for ounce of our liberty;
We gladly give it with a relieved smile.
Rumors of anxiety and dread persist,
Appeals subside,
They won’t know,
Devouring our freedoms under cover of darkness.
Alphabet soup can keep it hidden,
NSA, CIA, FBI and the rest.
Considering us ignorant and weak.
Reading our mail,
Listening to our most intimate calls,
Perusing out texts,
Nothing is private,
Nothing is sacred,
Our lives, open books for their amusement.
I ask you…
Who are the terrorists now
And who are the lambs?
Our way of life is eroding,
Just as the oligarchy has long-planned.
Extremists can sit back and watch,
As we surrender our greatness,
Under a cloud of fear,
Never having to fire another shot.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 