Today…a fresh start
The living Christ has risen
As a reminder
Each year a chance to return
Him to his sacred namesake
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Tag Archives: Religion
Illness (Tanka)
Illness…religion
One thing brings out the other
Prayers for better health
Sickness shows the frailty
That only Heaven can cure
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Cynicism (Acrostic)
Could I be my own worst enemy,
Yearning for perfection in this world and knowing it can never be?
Nothing can satisfy me as I watch the cruelty of man,
Inflicting pain and suffering on each other,
Crimes–inexcusable by any of God’s sacred texts.
Irreverent and blasphemous fools are these
Scandalous in their deep seated hatred
Maring the kindness and love of the doctrines they so staunchly claim to defend.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Man And God (Tanka)
God, Allah, Yahweh,
The Christ, Ram, Krishna, I Am
Names of The Divine
Emitting nothing but love
Until man ruins it
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Winding River, You Are Full Of Stones
Winding river, you are full of stones
Each covered in the blood of hatred.
Claiming to do as God commanded
You are false interpreters of the Word,
Stoning humanity into submission.
Under the guise of love you preach–
Conversion or death your message.
Yet in Heaven your Gods are the same,
Your aggressions on earth intertwined;
Surely there is enough blame for all.
Look! Your Holy texts are riddled with violence,
Deaths of men, women and children– so graphic;
Still you have the gall to point fingers at another!
You hypocrite, you heathen, you betray yourselves!
Each of you should be stoned for your digressions
You perpetrators of hate and death.
None of you are without human frailties,
None of you can claim to be speaking for Almighty God
For that–would be blasphemy,
Yet still you proclaim to know what is in God’s Heart!
Put an end this senseless bloodshed,
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”,
And nary a stone will ever be cast again.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Far and Wide, Far Beyond Horizons I’ve Looked
Far and wide, far beyond horizons I’ve looked,
Looked…looked until I glared at nothingness.
Staring straight into the gruesomeness of its face
It manages nothing but a hideous, jagged smile,
A chuckle from deep within its bowels born of hell.
I…what could I, a miserable wretch possibly do?
I am afraid, frightened of what I cannot see.
This monster is not deterred, I can feel its presence
Looming large over me, clawing at my sanity.
I can feel its steaming breath, hot at my throat;
Pulse racing, heart pounding, I tremble losing control.
Grasping the Book I raise it skyward
Screaming, crying, falling to my blackened knees.
Prostrate and bruised for a response, I wait
Yet there is none, no answer, nothing but silence.
Silence and nothingness are all that greet my tears.
I despise this hollow, sorrowful, lonely quest
Plagued with questions thicker than a locust’s swarm.
Nary an answer have I been offered all these years.
Appeasement through words written in an aged text,
My only comfort, based on a promise given in antiquity
I suppose this…this solemn promise alone,
Is the gift offered through
…Faith.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Happiness (Acrostic)
Has there not been enough killing, enough hate
All centered around religious faith?
Perhaps kindness and love would be a better solution;
Plying our ingenuity to the pursuits of peace and joy
Instead of weapons of human destruction.
Never has there been such a proliferation!
Ever more I believe the right path is unfettered love,
Something we are born with, but many of us lose through cynicism.
Strive to regain it and you may witness the rebirth of childlike joy.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Please Tell Me
Please tell me….
What does it look like to win?
Ideology can’t be defeated on the battlefield,
No matter how you try you can’t kill it.
You can kill its adherents,
Destroying the body, but their hate lives on.
Containment is decried as weak,
Nothing short of all out war satisfies the hawks,
Annihilation of everyone and everything their only answer.
So then, please tell me…
What does the enemy look like?
Muslim?
Dark skinned?
Light skinned?
Man?
Woman?
Child?
Young?
Old?
Sounds like the faces of the innocent and the guilty.
Can you please tell me…
How will you know your foe?
They will not come at you waving a flag.
They will not march upon your positions in perfect high-step.
They will not be clothed in matching uniforms,
Blaring their trumpets and saluting.
So tell me again…
Who is the enemy?
The farmer?
The shopkeeper?
The mechanic?
The soldier?
The school teacher?
The Imam?
The mother?
The father?
The child?
Would you have us kill every living thing just to make your point?
You rhetoric says that you would!
Someone please tell me…
What does it look like to win?
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
What Lies On Distant Shores
What lies on distant shores,
Buckets, pigeon holes, troughs for segregation.
Language, dress, birthplace do not an enemy make.
Where came this bitter misdirection?
Religion, culture, song, dance,
These are things of man’s creation.
Strip naked man and woman–
Lay them bare of their mortal inventions.
Confiscate their language, dress, birthplace,
Expropriate their religion, culture, song, dance,
Take all they have of this world;
What have they left?
Blood and skin and bone;
That which crumbles with inevitable death.
Hopes and dreams, emotions;
intangibles that define humanness.
Air, food, water, shelter;
That which sustains us.
Boundaries of man hold no sway over these.
We are but one species,
Born and consumed in life,
Until the day we return home
To the dust from whence we came.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
In Love There Is Peace (Tanka)
In love there is peace
No religion disputes that
Only man does this
Bastardizing all that’s good
For his own twisted purpose
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 