Image Credit: redbubble.com
I draw closed my eyes
Seeing nothing but blackness
Is this destiny
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Nothing But Blackness – A Haiku
Tag Archives: poem
Free At Last
Can you feel the beat of my heart
As you once did?
Flesh…
Blood coursing through my veins.
Though strong, not superhuman.
~
I bleed the souls of my fathers when cut,
Shed rivers of tears when broken,
Succumb to infirmities with hastening age,
Scar, ugly and jagged in healing,
Die a mortal death when called by the Creator.
~
You and I, conjoined in our humanness,
Why do you treat me otherwise?
The lash of your venom has left permanent tears.
Can you not refrain?
These are not badges of honor I wear, but disgrace,
On display to this cynical, forsaken world.
~
Treated as a carnival sideshow…no longer!
I am not a marionette bequeathed for amusement,
And you are not my puppet-master.
With sickle these ties shall be no more;
Dignity awaits me just beyond this stage.
~
As I reach for the exit door,
Claws dig into my flesh in one final bid,
But I am resolute in my determination;
Pulling free of your hideous grasp,
Free of control, free of your loathing,
Liberated from bondage.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Suffer the Consequences – A Tanka
With a tender touch
I tried to quiet your tears
You pushed me away
This was of my own doing
Now it is me who suffers
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Inconsideration
Have you become so ridiculous
That you justify your ill actions and commentary
With the blanket phrase…“I didn’t know.”?
~
Has age taught you nothing,
No process of discovery,
No method to discern.
~
Did your parents not instruct you well
In the virtue of restraint,
Knowledge of right and wrong,
In common courtesy?
~
You speak and act as if ignorant of the consequences;
Lobbing pain, physical and psychological haphazardly,
Without regard for the well-being of your victim.
~
Even in light of your blunders,
You deem your flaming rhetoric insignificant,
Offering no apology, no embarrassment, no sorrow.
~
Portraying yourself as the fool,
Friends and loved ones distance themselves,
Hoping you’ll see the error of your ways.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Hail To The King
We are living in a land of broken dreams and promises,
Those with means, rush to deny what should be obvious to the rest,
Ha! It’s the Land of Opportunity, for whom I ask?
Common is it for the common man to grow then stagnate,
Trapped in the tracks of his caste.
Not for lack of desire, but of meaningful opportunity.
Crawling up and up only to find the steps paved in jagged glass,
Barefooted from birth we are cut and scarred with each step,
No red carpet nor ivory towers lay in wait.
Instead pittances to pacify the masses are offered to give hope,
Promises that they too are worthy of abundance,
These promises ring hollow…leaving us with the taste of sand,
While the oligarchy scoffs from their luxurious boardrooms.
Cries to the state offer little relief,
As they themselves are counted amongst the elite,
Leaving the rest to scrounge for scraps in their rubbish heaps.
This was not the promise of this once great nation,
Old money, family money, dynasties, unfettered corporatism…greed!
Safeguards dreamt by the founders have been tilled and buried,
Bastardized by modern men with corrupt ideals.
Shall we once again embrace…
The monarchy!
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Youthful Imprudence – A Haiku
Image Credit: findery.com
Warmth of early spring
Rekindles past imprudence
The joys of our youth
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Forsaking Our Future
I wrote this poem some time ago about our governments handling of education. I continuously hear from both sides of the aisle that in order to strengthen our nation, we need to invest in our children’s educations. Well, I’m sure that I am not alone in voicing disgust with our elected officials. In every budget discussion, you will hear them crying to reduce funding for public education. I’m sorry, but you can not invest in education while cutting its funding, it does not work. There are many, especially on the right, that would like to see public education destroyed in favor of privatization (if they had their way everything would be privatized), but myself, my parents and their parents before them as an example, all are/were products of a public education and have done quite well for themselves just as many of you probably have. This piece is my way of voicing my frustration with our system of partisan politics using a farming analogy.
~~
Crops lays abandoned,
Overrun with the sprawl of weeds.
The young ripe for the picking,
Left to rot in the noonday sun.
Government touts the virtue of our crops,
Pleading for us to do more,
While refusing to help cultivate.
“It’s just too expensive.”,
Saying we need to invest more,
As they chop, chop, chop,
Down the ivory halls.
Instead we placate our appetites,
Feasting on imported produce from distant shores.
Why do we not sow our own?
The seeds lay before us,
Waiting for the planting.
All the while, seasons come and go,
Leaving sun swept earth,
Arid and untended.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Syrian Injustice
Led by a despot
Innocent blood stains the streets
Cries for help ignored
Are the lives lost all for naught
Genocide begs a response
~
If not us then who
Each passing day brings more death
More graves to be dug
More mothers weeping their loss
The regime must abdicate
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Embrace the Child
Soulfully embrace
The laughter of your children
For innocence fades
Replaced by cynicism
And angst in adolescence
If left to fester
Cherish the inner child
Promote it’s beauty
This will lead to a full life
Filled with joyful abundance
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Equality – A Haiku
Image Credit: washingtonpost.com
To level the field
Rewrite the class equation
Now we are equal
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 