How is it that we managed to survive this long
Using violence against others indiscriminately
Maiming, killing for the sake of oil and profit
Are we really that cold and uncivilized
No excuse can convince me otherwise
I mourn the loss of all human life
Their families given little time to grieve
Yells for mercy are met with yet another bomb
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Wheels of bloody war continue to turn,
Backing foreign rebels whose motives unclear.
While villages and cities continue to burn
We’re spoon fed a diet of who we should fear.
~
Millions of dollars to be funnelled covert,
To whom we don’t know, just trust us we’re told.
Protecting our interests how could it possibly hurt,
This story gets older the more that it’s told.
~
Creating future enemies with training and guns,
A lesson that we still have not learned.
Viewed by the world as reincarnated Huns,
Our reputation, our flag once again burned.
~
Another “War on Terror” with no defined win
A phrase perhaps coined oh so rightly
Though resources and patience are stretched ever so thin
We’re lied to with teeth clenched so tightly
~
We’re told this is for the protection of all,
As if we couldn’t see through their disguise.
It’s all about profit and a wealth of crude oil
Wrapped in “freedoms” meager blanket of lies.
~
Our love for our cars, our boats, our planes
And all things founded on fossil fuels.
We take what we want without easing their pains
Makes us look like great bullies and fools.
~
Then they claim concern for the welfare of man
When it’s really nothing more than an act.
Money and greed and taking all that they can
Is an evident though an oft denied fact.
~
~~ 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 ~~
Smoke wafts o’er the granite mountainside;
Black and thick in a murderous haze.
Sulfur taints the crusty putrid air
Drowning out the glorious scent of honeysuckle and pine.
Babbling brooks once vocal no longer babble;
Their voices silenced by dam, drought and pollution.
Dry and cracked beds mar earths aging face
Leaving tinder for natures fiery furnace.
From my hilltop perch a murky brown sludge chokes the valley floor.
What hazards are these we should ask,
Though no one cares but for convenience and profit.
As we seek cause and cure for man’s maladies
Might we look no further than ourselves,
Our misuse of natures gifts,
Our burning of fossil fuels,
Pollution of our most precious resources–air and water,
Is it any wonder we are plagued with incurable disease?
Yet even the slightest attempts to change course
Are stalled by the profiteers gauntlet.
Science–when used for their benefit is gospel,
But dismissed as leftist propaganda
When the planet and climate are on stage.
Look beyond your four walls,
Breathe deeply,
Feel the burn in your tainted lungs,
Wipe the tears from your stinging eyes and look if you can,
Is this the vision of paradise that you sought
For you and your children?
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
![The Land Before Time by Michael Kittell](http://jeremysdailychallenge.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/landbeforetime-by-michael-kittell.jpg?w=720" alt="The Land Before Time by Michael Kittell "/>)
The Land Before Time by Michael Kittell – Jeremy’s Daily Challenge – Weekend Medley 4 January Writing Prompt
Blue skies,
Clouds of ivory,
Rain, fresh as a mountain spring,
Grass of emerald green
Under rainbows crown.
This land before time,
This land before man used it for his own gain;
Not for his survival, but for his profit.
What ever happened to taking only what you need,
Just what you require to live,
Not what you desired in greed.
Those that loved this land before time–
We called them savages;
Unworthy of sharing in its bounty.
They didn’t know any better,
They didn’t see the riches that lay before them.
Blind and ignorant in our eyes, they did not deserve it,
We slaughtered them taking what was never rightfully ours.
Our claims legally binding,
They had no paper, no contract, no right,
Trespassers, every one of them to the last,
We drove them to the verge of extinction
Like the buffalo and the wolf,
But who cares,
There will be another to take their place…or not,
It does not matter.
This land before time–
Abused, polluted, strip-mined, clear-cut, overbuilt,
Unappreciated, disrespected,
But isn’t that our way,
Take until there is nothing left to take
And leaving nothing but destruction in our wake.
A sad farewell to…
The land before time.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
.
Prompted By Jeremy’s Daily Challenge – Weekend Medley 4 January
Our heritage gone
Bulldozed–some call it progress
Farms sold for profit
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
You blame the unions,
You blame the American worker,
Moving your plants overseas.
~
You say we want too much.
Is a decent quality of life too much,
A living wage to raise our families.
~
You take no blame on yourself,
Your greedy shareholders,
Gnarled hands outstretched,
Grasping for a greater piece of the pie.
~
You cry, profits are down;
Consumers aren’t buying!
You take our jobs away
Giving them to those in the third world.
~
No job, no money, no spending,
Where is your logic?
You ask for more from us
Giving us less for our labors,
Yet our bleeding is still not enough.
~
Our blood, our sweat means nothing,
No longer are we people,
No longer do you show us loyalty.
~
Profits reign king in your corrupt world
And we are merely paupers,
Struggling in your greed poisoned kingdom.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
What happened to spring
Window panes covered in frost
Melt in summer’s heat
Global warming is a myth
When profit is your motive
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image,Credit: homesweethomeless.com
A last look…Goodbye;
To this home we once called home.
Tossed out like garbage,
Circumstance counts for nothing.
Outcast by neighbors once friends.
~
Stranded on the streets.
Possibility for work
Without an address,
Hopeless beyond a nightmare.
Where will our family live?
~
In America
This happens far too often.
Promises broken,
Greed and profit motivate,
Leaving us impoverished.
~
“Pick yourself up!”, cried,
“By what?”, when you have nothing?
An offer to help,
A chance to practice what’s preached,
This is our sacred duty.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Think about this often
How petty we have become
Money, power, the big house; is this really important?
Money distorts,
Power corrupts,
The big house…a symbol of unnecessary opulence.
Those of unlike kind are frowned upon,
Lazy,
Bloodsuckers,
A drain on the system,
Is this what we have become?
Those with means holding us hostage,
Our station in life seals our fate,
Threatening to exterminate ones less fortunate,
All in the name of progressing their adgenda.
Civility and compassion tossed aside like so many feathers to the wind,
Cast out as unimportant,
So unnecessary in this capitalist system,
The needs of the few eclipse those of the many.
Talking heads and bureaucrats tow the line,
Telling us that this is our foundation,
Lies and deceit disguise their motives,
Their pockets lined with fools gold.
Still they profit at societies expense,
And we buy in to the hollow rhetoric,
Smiling and clapping as they spew their bile,
Blind to the parade marching to it’s own demise.
Our representation sold for profit,
With wealth comes power and the rise of aristocracy,
This was not the proclivity of our fathers,
Yet we watch it happen with hardly a noise.
Is this what is desired or desirable?
It can’t be…it mustn’t be our expectation,
Like mice we scurry away from that which is distasteful,
Rise up, speak up, demand your just due,
Tenacity in numbers can rejuvenate our future,
Forcing the tyrants to bow to our intentions.
Dom DiFrancesco 