Symbol of greatness
Tarnished by greed and hatred.
A once proud people
Sinks deeper into ruin
While wearing a clueless stare.
They would be appalled
If only they were conscious,
But alas they aren’t
Choosing instead to live lies
Propagandized by tyrants.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Shock of all shocks!, A conclusion has arrived,
What you may ask drove me to this.
I look at this nation and its leaders that drive,
And sadly I find so much amiss.
Squabbling and indecision on the left and the right,
It’s politics at their very worst.
From top to the bottom it’s no easier a fight,
Unable to decide what to do first.
Managing from crisis to crisis is no way to proceed,
As the ball is too easily dropped.
We look to our leaders to stand up and take heed,
Of all that must be started and stopped.
From debt ceiling to healthcare, ebola, ISIS and more,
They fight each other all of the way.
Afraid am I of what may very soon be in store,
For greater horrors may come into play.
We have hearing after hearing and nothing gets done,
They are sound bites for the next campaign.
Fodder for the platform on which they will run,
With lies and aggression to inflame.
I look at the response to ebola with a smile,
This comedy of errors that it is.
The protocols, what protocols all to beguile,
What’s the answer is part of the quiz.
What do we call them–ISIS or Islamic State,
Would somebody make up their mind.
We got into this one perhaps a little too late,
Over time I am sure we will find.
In these two crisis’ congress isn’t without fault,
Ask McCain, he was friend to our foe.
Yelling arm the rebels their advance they will halt,
As always putting on quite a show.
Now congress has called a meeting, the CDC to berate,
For its failure to institute adequate tools.
It was fine leaving West Africa to suffer its fate,
Denying funding like cold hearted fools.
Messages are mixed on all things from above,
Agreeing on nothing is their way.
Failing to compromise when push comes to shove,
I suppose this is how things will stay.
So what is the conclusion from this long winded rant,
More trouble ahead is surely brewing.
Our government is broken and their solutions are scant,
I’m confident they don’t know what they are doing!
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
With irony I look back on July the fourth,
Commemorating separation from the British Crown.
Decrying aristocrats and their gorging worth
And the treatment of their subjects trampling down.
Open your eyes and look at us now,
Governed and judged by aristocrats galore.
Expected to beg, grovel and bow
Just as we did to King George before.
Over two hundred years we’ve learned nothing it’s clear
As again we submit to the court and its king.
Giving away what we should have held dear
For the promise of a golden ring.
This golden ring offered in hopes to divide
The right from the left I am sure
Confusing the masses with promises to provide
Answers to our problems through their cure.
But the cure is poisoned by their quest for greater wealth,
On the backs of those who can least afford.
Tricking them to believe by their dishonest stealth,
That there’s nothing but truth in their word.
Illusion and trickery is the game of the day,
Substance something long ago past.
Diverting ones blame is the partisan way,
Spewing venom as long as it lasts.
If truth does not sell then they coat it in lies,
Said long enough they’re bound to believe.
People are gullible say their political spies,
They’ll swallow whatever we conceive.
Free press is now gone in lieu of partisan hacks,
Towing their hate-filled party lines.
Convincing the audience that they’re watching their backs,
While raking in millions all the time.
With sadness I watch our republic disappear
Under the weight of corruption and greed.
Leaving the powerless amongst us I fear
To scratch and claw for all that they need.
Convinced they’re a burden and a waste of our time
Pretending that they don’t exist.
From their pit of despair alone they’re left to climb,
Should they fail it’s unlikely they’ll be missed.
America has lost the humanity it once had,
Trading it for profit and conceit.
Where helping one another was more than a fad,
It was a facet of what made us complete.
Deception is all part of the elites master plan
Pitting each man against his brother.
Feeding the masses as much fear as they can,
Blaming the cause on another.
Unless we take a stand, the ninety-nine percent,
Against the one percent we’ve allowed to rule us.
Expect nothing more than this we consent,
But to allow the bourgeois to fool us.
This my dear friends is my greatest fret,
With each and every fourth of July.
That under their thumbs, ever more we do get,
Until America shrivels up and dies.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Why I ask is it that we choose to destroy,
Leaving vast swaths of land ravaged,
Acres of ocean uninhabitable,
Water unfit for consumption,
Farms barren of life-giving crops,
Forests clear cut for human development
Exploitation of the gifts given to mankind,
Simply…I do not know!
Why is it that we deny the evidence,
Oceans rising to previously unrecorded levels,
Temperatures, the hottest in history,
Storms, perfect and oh so deadly,
Property destroyed and lives lost,
Still we refuse to believe,
Why–I do not know!
Why is it that we allow ourselves to be victims,
Plagued by profiteers,
Suffocated by our government,
Tolerant of our polarization,
Blind to our abuses,
Living as pawns to the powerful,
Yet we choose to ignore,
Why, I haven’t a clue!
Why we have allowed this to happen, I do not know,
We have become complacent,
Allowing our fellows to trample our dreams,
Stifling that which is our destiny
Instead of finding common ground,
Leaving us more distant than ever.
I wish I knew how to fix the ills of this world,
But I do not!
I like you, am only a temporary inhabitant,
Borrowing my time in this life.
Why must we destroy this precious world
Poisoning ourselves and those we love
With words and chemicals?
Material gain and profit are fleeting like this existence.
Shouldn’t we endeavor to make the most of what we’ve been given?
Isn’t this what it means to be human,
To use what we need leaving the rest for our future?
Perhaps I am naive,
A dreamer,
Or just hopeful,
But I must believe that it is not too late
For man to overcome his arrogance and greed.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
What have we become?
Both sides are fatally flawed.
We–the laughingstocks!
Politics are the cancer
Eating our nation alive.
Are we to perish,
Fading into history
Like Rome’s empire;
Remembered for its grandeur
Through its crumbling ruins?
Perhaps it’s too late,
Our experiment–a dream
May evaporate
Becoming just a footnote
In the annals of mankind.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
By D. R. DiFrancesco
~~
Faces of color,
Eyed through blinders of suspicion,
Had we not buried this decades back,
People minimized for political gain.
~~
Grasping for a solution,
The problem steeped in your imagination,
You’ve convinced yourself this is righteous,
Yet racism and bigotry fester in you.
~~
This is not sacrosanct,
Taking hold of the weakness of the innocent,
Illegitimizing their right to be represented,
All for an ideal that isn’t your own.
~~
The media claims to be fair and balanced,
While corrupting your mind,
Brainwashing you with their hatred and mistrust,
As you mindlessly tow their party line.
~~
You despise him as an archvillain,
Is it his race, what you perceive his religion to be,
Is it his name, his father, his mother,
All targets of your aggression.
~~
Your side spouts lies,
Making claims they know to be blatantly false,
Saying whatever you want to hear,
Sycophants following like lambs to slaughter.
~~
This is what they want from you,
Belief in a past that can’t be resuscitated,
The future won’t settle for the lesser,
Still you continue to drink from the tainted well.
~~
They view half of us as leeches,
Feeding off of the system for our own personal gain,
Who are they, the elderly, children, disabled,
Do not judge them unless you have walked in their shoes.
~~
A sad state of affairs,
Pitting brother against brother and sister against sister,
The weapon of words no less brutal,
Leaving victims on both sides bloody and disillusioned.
Image credit: theatlantic.com
Dom DiFrancesco 