Tag Archives: old age

I Never Really Knew Her

My breath floated silently toward Heaven.

I watched as it disappeared

Blending seamlessly with the cloud filled sky.

With upturned collar

I stood with loved ones feeling completely alone;

Such a strange feeling this is.

I had known her for almost fifty years,

But suddenly came to realize…

I scarcely knew her at all.

Self-absorbed with my life, my own family,

Thinking she would always be there

I never thought to ask who she was,

What her life was like,

Even where she born;

It just never occurred to me to ask

And never came up in conversation.

My picture of her had always been the same,

White hair, as white as newly fallen snow,

Her cheek, soft and smooth to the kiss,

Kind and joyful, yet quiet as a mouse;

Always taking a backseat to the love of her life.

Sadly, her time has now passed

Taking with it the story that was her.

I am left to gather up snippets,

Like those tossed on the cutting room floor

Selectively shared second hand.

My chance has passed to hear her story

In the truth that can only come from living it.

No fault can be placed, but on me

So on me alone the fault must lie.

By divine retribution, I stand here,

In the icy chill of winter to bid farewell

To one I loved dearly,

More dearly than she would ever know

And with profound sadness I’ve come to realize

…That I never really knew her at all.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

We Gather Here Today (Poem Read At Grandmother’s Funeral)

My Grandparents Wedding Picture 1930

My Grandparents Wedding Picture 1930

We gather here today in mourning and in tears

Just as tradition dictates we must

Saddened to have lost one we all held so dear

Into the hands of God, her soul we do trust

~

We grieve–as a way of dealing with our heartfelt loss

But wouldn’t celebration of an extraordinary life be best

To be honored and have loved is priceless at its cost

Yet our faith will most surely be put to the test

~

In the midst of our sorrow we must look for the good

At this life lived so full and so well

Surely she would want this, I believe that she would

As our angel in heaven tolls the bell

~

I’ve pondered these thoughts both long and hard

Feeling blessed for having known her all my years

While many have known her longer and held her in highest regard

Very few could be held as her peer

~

I think of the things that she saw while she lived

Horse and carriage and car shared the road

The tango took hold and its popularity thrived

Halley’s comet appeared with a tail that did glow

~

These are just a few of the things that took place

All within the year of her birth

The Boy Scouts established to this year can be traced

For however much or little its worth

~

A few years down the road and the world was at war

For the first, but unfortunately not the last

The Panama Canal finally opened its doors

With the indestructible Titanic going down fast

~

Prohibition arrives with all glasses going dry

Women finally won the right to vote

The Charleston becomes a hit why not give it a try

Babe Ruth hits the home run high note

~

Then marrying the gent with whom she’d share all her time

A tall and swarthy olive skinned man

Handsome, debonair and genuinely kind

A perfect compliment for this lady so grand

~

Not only did love grow, but the staircases climbed

The Empire State Building’s grandeur completed

Our National Anthem made official–so sublime

The Wizard of Oz premiered that’s now so oft repeated

~

Soon three children arrived who she cherished all of her days

No other event in her history could compare

By the grace of God all three of them are here with us today

To celebrate the life she was kind enough to share

~

Then the war to end all wars the second had begun

Separating this young mother from her true love

Left alone to raise her brood once two she now was one

With courage and a strength from up above

~

The smile of fate shone upon wife and mother oh so young

Bringing back the husband and father to his home

The rest of his life he spent working hard–unsung

Staying with her and raising their kids never again did he roam

~

Then the fifties roared in with Korea in conflict

McCarthy began his hunt and his war

The picture in color the television did inflict

Princess Elizabeth the Queen takes center floor

~

Walt Disney opens his land and his first jeweled crown

James Dean sadly passes away in a crash

Elvis’ gyrations bring Sullivan’s curtains tumbling down

While Castro dictates with his promises so brash

~

Then the first of her children has a child so dear

Most surely the apple of her eye

A lovely little girl like her mother its clear

No better could she have done had she tried

~

But no this was not to be last by any stretch

A boy this time was in the offing

The second of the grands her heart he did fetch

Topping this would be a feet ever so lofty

~

Then a iron strong wall dividing Berlin was built

JFK speaks of the “Man on the Moon”

A crisis in Cuba armed with missiles to the hilt

A President’s life taken way too soon

~

Amongst all of the chaos another grand is born

The first to her youngest and his wife

Coming about the time that the Beatles hit our shore

Giving joy to a sad and turbulent life

~

The U.S. sent its troops to a place called Vietnam

To fight in a most unpopular war

Then the fourth grand is born to Dad and Mom

In the year the first Super Bowl scores

~

In the following year a King left the room

And another Kennedy too

Armstrong became the first man on the moon

While the dream of Woodstock came true

~

Then in the year from Vietnam we came home

The final baby grand entered the world

A beautiful little girl to the family they had grown

Before her the red carpet unfurled

~

The stage has now been set for many more years

Her grands had babies of their own

The lights of her life that she held oh so dear

Guaranteed she would never be alone

~

How amazing it turned out that her line was not complete

Great grandchildren gave her great great grand children to hold

So few have been blessed and fewer still will repeat

This fairy tale that has seldom been told

~

We all have been rewarded to have had her for so long

In our hearts, our minds and our souls

Even with her passing this love will never be gone

We must hold her memory to fill in the holes

~

This dear friends and family is why I illustrate

With amazement in all she lived through

Yes I’m filled with sadness, but in joy celebrate

With envy at the wonders that she knew

~

I remember with great fondness her kind and gentle heart

Not one callous bone did she hold

Today is not an ending, but a new and hallowed start

To be traveled in death as her life had foretold

~

Her belief in God, no her true love of the Lord

I’m sure gave her great comfort in the end

So much can be learned, much more than we can afford

Her faith unwavering did not bend

~

Mom Mom Bea–this simple tribute is the least I can do

To selfishly comfort my sorrowed heart and mind

Sweet lady–I bid you farewell with the fondest adieu

One whose life with great love I’ve enshrined

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

AUTHOR’S NOTE:  This is the poem that I read at the funeral for my grandmother earlier this week.  Some of you had asked if I would post the poem I read in the church and after giving it some thought and getting my parents blessing (I felt I should make sure they were not opposed to it) here it is.  So many things happened in the world during her 103 years.  I hope that you enjoy it.

Getting Old

The creak of the door

Floorboards moan with every step

Like cracking of joints

Worn out from use over time

Only like new when replaced

~A Tanka ~

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Road Home

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 ~~

 

Greener Grass

This gravel road,

A path oft traveled,

Lane you strode,

As your life unraveled.

~~

Yon horizon so far distant,

Where a better life must lay,

Hurry on forth right this instant,

For the sun will rise on a brighter day.

~~

On yonder side the grass must surely be greener,

As the old time saying goes,

This too passes as ones life becomes leaner,

With far too little to show.

~~

Much too often we chase exaggerated expectations,

When they seem right within our grasp,

‘Til euphoria fades to urgent consternation,

And your prospects they dwindle and lapse.

~~

Life lessons learned are the hardest its true,

As the scars and bruises do prove,

Out of the rubble and ash will rise a new you,

In spirit and nature behoove.

~~

We greet you back home as a most beloved son,

For you needed to find your own way,

This is only the beginning of the journey you’ve begun,

Welcome home for as long as you will stay.

 

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Wrong Number – Haiku

Image Credit: clevelandmovieblog.com

Image Credit: clevelandmovieblog.com

The telephone rings

A friend calls to meet for lunch?

Sorry, wrong number

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Ravaged By Nature

Sullied winds chatter chimes lashed to greyed beams

Warped and splitting with age, appear none too long for this world

With each ring an angel must surely get their wings

As remuneration for a melody so heavenly revealed

~~

Steps crippled, squeal as mice in traps are bound to do

Bowing under the burden of the weary traveler

Fortitude ingrained, revives the weakened conscripts

Whose preparation has made them cordial adversaries

~~

Tawny hinges weathered by sun, beaten by the wind cry in pain

Remorse etched into their hammered finish confesses their age

Chagrined by subjugation, the door slams

Announcing defeat to it’s audience of none

~~

Dark but for dust pirouetting through muted shafts of light

Stirred by shuffling boots, tattered and worn thin by extended employ

Creaking under foot, floorboards rebel in unison with their owner

Shrunken and contorted from the weight of existence

~~

Ping of coils break the stagnant silence of the vessel

Sagging lumpy seat replaces a once firm cushion

A quiet ah, escapes from the lungs in expiration

Sense of relief but for the strain of fabric

~~

Cracking joints echo of broken glass in freefall

Legs wobble by exhausted mortise and tenon

Laden with rings, table balances precariously in an uncomfortable dance

Unsteady and unsure, time has reaped it’s revenge

~~

Tired well beyond youth, mortality returns from holiday

Waiting to reveal what lay interred beyond these walls

Neither refinish nor repair prolong to eternity

Only temporary and finite are the workings of men

~~

Man conspires with the dwelling in cosmic ways

Each subject to the ravages of the lifetime moment

Materially morphing into a shell of the original creation

Inevitably conceding to nature’s crowing fate

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Elder Embrace

By D. R. DiFrancesco

~~~~~~

Black hair gone thin and gray

Creases like dry riverbeds map the landscape

Winding effortlessly south

Either due to age or gravity or both

Dark olive skin, soft tautness lost to the years

Tired eyes struggle to catch the light of day

Once clear as crystals now foggy and uncertain

Reminiscent of the mist that envelops San Diego Bay

Memories of youthful virility invoked smiles and stories

Tales etched with vivid language

Language and reference not correct in todays world

Friends and acquaintances identified by race, creed and color

Shocked and amazed erupting in uncomfortable laughter

A likely product of the prejudice thrown at your feet

First breath drawn at the turn of the last century

Born of a race not so easily accepted

Unkind names and slurs labeling an entire lineage

Times had changed leaving you behind

Floundering as if in seizure

Living in an era that was foreign

Still there was no shame, no offense or ill intention

No defense levied for your words and actions

None was needed, none was desired

Age and time granted societal clemency

Few were left who lived the history

Fewer still survive to remember

Relegation to the page is approaching with haste

Embrace them while the opportunity affords

Cherish the time shared and knowledge imparted

Passing it down to the generations that follow

Old Man in the Mirror – (A Poem)

Time humbles the man,

Back arching under the weight of a lifetime,

Old photographs,

A reminder of good friends and loves that long ago passed.

 

The mind drifts,

Not as sharp or quick witted as it once was,

Long gone memories much fresher than today,

Then again, yesterday fits me much better.

 

Hair gone white,

Deep creases travel like dry river beds across my face,

Skin soft and sagging,

Looking in the mirror I can scarcely recognize myself.

 

Who is that old man staring back at me?

Drawn and tired,

Teeth yellowed, eyelids hanging like cheap suits,

I know it’s me inside this costume.

 

The crumbling exterior,

A vessel for a lifetime of wisdom and experience.

Earned through pain, suffering, love, and joy,

A gift wasted on the young.

 

None of this would I trade for the impetuousness of youth,

Born of  blood sweat, and tears,

Etched in my face as a reminder,

A badge to be worn with honor.

 

Wither Away

By: D. DiFrancesco

The pain of watching one wither away
Indescribable and yet inescapable
Remembering how vibrant and energetic they were
We think they will never go away.

I can still see her
In the kitchen apron on making a meal
It doesn’t matter which one it was
They all are precious memories to me.

I was a child
She was everything to me back then
Eyes shining, the silkiness of her voice
These were some of my happiest days.

Then childhood passes
Like the sweep of the second hand
Harsh reality clings like beads of sweat
Those once so virile commence to fade.

We try to stave off the inevitable for as long as we can
But alas it proves useless
No magic elixer can halt the decline
How swift does frailty overcome us.

Her eyes have sunk into evenings dark abyss
The hunch in the back, a sign of a life of burden
Her stride gives way to a shuffle
The mercy of others her only salvation.

No longer able to self-sustain
Twilights arms embrace who she once was
A child returns from where it started
The circle of life incarnate.

Her mobility has vanished, now forever prone
But oddly the memories of her past are clear
Thoughts from more modern times she can’t remember
Eternities multitude is calling her home.

She’s withered away, her grace in passing inspires
In her destiny we see ourselves
We fear this most as our time here is finite
To our maker we must trust our mortal souls…farewell.