Curmudgeonly

Curmudgeonly, that is me I fear

I swore I would not become my parents loud and clear

I would not criticize the music I hear

Clothes, the hair, nor all they hold dear

~

But I lied or failed does it really matter much

I don’t understand rap, hip hop, electronic dance and such

Pants low with boxers high held up by belt buckle clutch

Publicly grabbing crotch with not the gentlest of touch

~

More critical of the guys than the girls I have found

Cars with whiny mufflers, where’s the glass-pack rumbling sound

Trucks that can’t pick-up cause they’re lowered to the ground

I guess its finally happened what goes around comes around

~

I’m trying my best to break out of this mold

Being more accepting as I so adamantly told

Judging by appearance is a form of profiling bold

Isn’t it bizarre how we transform as we grow old

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

~

AUTHOR’S NOTE: These are just a few observations about myself that honestly, I find embarrassing since I promised myself from an early age that I would not succumb to this type of thinking, but to one degree or another I have.  I am working hard to change my mindset so we will have to see where that goes, but I’m sure that at least some of you can relate.

A Lifetime Spent Forging Ahead

A lifetime spent forging ahead,

Ever closer to the raging river.

Tumultuous and wrought with fear

I approach the fjord fraught with peril.

I squint to spy a shore

The bank far too distant to see.

What awaits–Oh that is the question

Asked before, asked again eternally.

Its in the book of Testament Old and New,

Torah, Pistis Sophia, Koran among the few.

Through the ages told to look, to believe

And yes! Ye shall find what ye need,

But it is not so clear, nor has it ever been,

I can’t know what awaits on that far off shore.

Trusting there is more than what I’ve seen,

Like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night

I must trust, I must believe through faith I will live,

For without what is left, but a story with a tragic end.

This cannot, must not be, never created nor destroyed,

I have been forever and will be forever more.

Mortal science has proven the mystics of yore,

There must be life,yes–I must live when I cross the river

As spirit abandons the bodies mortal core.

With each step I take, another step closer,

Sooner than later I will know, I will see what awaits;

Try as we may we cannot escape our human fate.

A fate long sealed by Adam’s rib named Eve

What else can we do, but trust and believe

That all is not lost, that living is not futile,

Lest we spend our days in tears as we grieve.

I refuse!  I will not grieve nor give in to hopelessness,

This by the grace of God I confess

To waste not one breathing moment in sadness

Instead to walk in the ways of gladness

‘Til my time on earth is through.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Best of Intentions (Tanka)

Best of intentions

Go astray very often

When offered rashly

Acting without second thought

Can drive a wedge between friends

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

My Spirits Journey (Tanka)

My spirits journey

Visited ad nauseum

Questions no answers

Unresolved for a lifetime

A mystery ‘til the end

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

A Stammering Fool (Tanka)

A stammering fool

Hypnotised by azure eyes

I am left speechless

Words seem so inadequate

For beauty not of this earth

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Supernatural (Tanka)

Supernatural

Souls lost between provinces

Unable to leave

Reliving their earthly hell

Trapped in the netherworld

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Fraught With Danger (Sonnet)

Fraught with danger this daily walk,

As hand-in-hand we battle the foe.

Through foolish acts and foolish talk,

Into the darkness hence we go.

Faith–What faith we question still,

As answers yield no answers forth.

On hands and knees we climb the hill;

The devil tempts our mortal worth.

O’ the struggle, eternal test,

We try yet fail more oft’ than not.

Attempt as we may to do our best

It ends in sin and soul filled rot.

Yet for all our faults and feelings of loss

We’re assured of life through death on the cross.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

I Look Upon Such Great Divide

I look upon such great divide

Families fighting through verbal battle

No middle ground, forced to choose sides

Opinions grasped like so much chattel

~

Scarcely since Our Civil War

Have differences raised so much ire

Tell me–what is all the anger for

Fueling tinder to spark the fire

~

Inundated torrent of adapted news

All with clearly chosen leanings

Partisan sides, a burning fuse

Caring not for truth or meaning

~

We drink like cattle at the trough

Hearing what we choose to hear

Everyone else’s minds gone soft

Perpetuating mood of hate and fear

~

One and all looking for someone to blame

Misplaced trust keeps fanning the fire

As rhetoric strives to focus their aim

Their lust for blood on a funeral pyre

~

Once an asset was a public informed

Now we are led astray like sheep

Our minds and senses propaganda stormed

To the point we dream it in our sleep

~

Questions arise, what liar to believe

None of them are worthy of trust

Making their quest to cheat and deceive

We pray their riches turn to rust

~

When oh when will we ever learn

Its up to us to force a change

Instead, watching while we crash and burn

Isn’t our complacency rather strange

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Faces in the Crowd (Tanka)

Faces in the crowd

Each–a novel without words

To be imagined

Comedy or tragedy

We will never know the truth

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

I Chase After My Shadow

Ball Boy by Chris Jones

I chase after my shadow in hopes of pouncing

Its direction changing with each passing hour

In pursuit of the reddest of red balls bouncing

As red as reddest rose the tenderest flower

~

To what purpose I know you’re most surely asking

How foolish this boy I know it seems

Dreams of tag and dodgeball basking

Ear-to-ear my smile brightly gleams

~

A child at heart I choose to savor

Otherwise old and boring I’d be

Easily at home with juvenile behavior

Young in my mind and heart you can see

~

How simple it is a boy and his ball

A game for one or many to play

Toss up and catch or bounce off the wall

It doesn’t really matter, it’s fun either way

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Jem Farmer – The Boi Poet Monday ‘s Masterpiece 21 October Prompt