Tag Archives: poetry

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

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 ~~

Comedy and Tragedy – A Tanka

Living this stage show

Scripted as Heaven or Hell

So Shakespearean

At times its a comedy

At others a tragedy

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Faithful To The End – A Tanka

Walk alone with me

On these streets I’ve paved with gold

Take my outstretched hand

Offered as a sign of love

And a bond never broken

~

~~ 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

Image Credit: washingtonpost.com

To level the field

Rewrite the class equation

Now we are equal

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~