Tag Archives: sad

I Beg Of Heaven – A Villanelle

I beg of heaven for light of day

For night fills dreams of you with fear

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

What can I do, what dare I say

To break this darkness with love and cheer

I beg of heaven for light of day

~

This deep despair I keep at bay

In hopes you’ll return my cherished dear

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

I never would your heart betray

My passion felt I have made so clear

I beg of heaven for light of day

~

Were I to change would then you stay

Anything I’d do to mend heartbreak severe

On bended knee in tears I pray

~

To you, I promise to never stray

Your honor I’ll guard and never besmear

I beg of heaven for light of day

On bended knee in tears I pray

~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

** I thought I would give a new style a try.  The Villanelle is in the form of A1 B A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.  It is very structured, but was interesting to write.  I would appreciate any feedback you may wish to provide.  Thanks.

Dusty Bus Stop Bench – A Tanka

Dusty bus stop bench

Ragged, dirty, unshaven

Traffic racing by

You didn’t speak, just stared

As I offered what I could

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Confusion

Confusion…

Cacophony of sights and sounds

Soupy mixture

A distasteful bombardment

Inescapable…

Every turn a stone wall

Pounding and punishing

Piercing flesh

Drawing blood

Fracturing bone

Draining every last drop of energy

Pushing back

Nothing but resistance

Drenched in sweat

Eyes sting

Bloodshot from strain

Head in hands

Driven to tears

Trapped…

Beaten into submission

Giving up

You win

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Turning a Blind Eye – A Tanka

Image Credit: productiveflourishing.com

Image Credit: productiveflourishing.com

Turning a blind eye

Gives momentary relief

But changes nothing

Only actions gets results

Poverty kills if ignored

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

The Road Home

Stove burners blue flame

Dangerous heat

Warming frigid trembling hands

Radiator cold

Rent control all he can afford

Children absent and estranged

He’s invisible in this world

Old friends to the old man gone

Passed before his time

Rotary telephone shows its age

Symbiotically keeping pace

Silent and out-of-date

Thoughts of youth flutter

Flashbacks in his fragmenting mind

Remembrances of companions

Lost loves

And a wife

Still 20 to him,

After a lonely decade adrift

Living because he won’t die

He longs to sleep forever

But it is not God’s will

Not his time

Shuffling to the stove

He warms his trembling hands

To wait for meals-on-wheels

Or the Lord to take him home

 

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Calloused hands cracked and bleeding

Ne’er a chance to heal

Family counting on the sweat of labor

For sustenance

And a roof overhead

Nothing more matters in this world

Molten steel pays the bills

Scalded skin and blisters overtime

And he’ll go it again tomorrow

The mill a second home

Thirty years, a day never missed

But what matter does it make

Pink slips are coming

Jobs moving overseas

Loyalty counts for nothing these days

Just a number easily erased

Profits put ahead of people

Born of cheaper labor in the Far East

Silence over dinner

Uncertainty an unwelcomed guest

Visits every evening

Wifes eyes offer comfort

Hidden deep, she knows there is none

How to go on

Everything lost

Skilled to do little else

Some would call this progress

Another unnamed martyr

Of the corporate machine

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Cold, Cold Heart – A Tanka

Image Credit: dioxenya.devianart.com

Image Credit: dioxenya.devianart.com

The gray sky, clouds hover

Looks like another snow day

Cold, harsh, unfeeling

You left me for another

Shattering my heart like ice

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~

Recapturing Innocence

By D. R. DiFrancesco

~

I found a place,

Deep inside me,

Warm and comforting,

Something I thought I’d lost.

~

So many years ago,

Innocence shielded me,

Harbored my emotions,

Enveloped me in the simplicity of youth.

~

Age changed,

I let my gentility drift off,

Replacing it with cynicism,

Spoiling the wonder of me.

~

The world didn’t change,

It is still just as wondrous,

Instead it was me that was corrupted,

My skepticism and pessimism changed my view.

~

Looking for the worst,

My fellow man could not be trusted,

Conniving and deceitful by nature,

I lost sight of the decent.

~

My perception flawed,

Skewed by life experience,

Taken as the standard bearer,

Distorting my future interactions.

~

Mistrust instills bitterness,

Fear of the worst is all consuming,

Depression and anxiety take root,

Trapping ugliness inside.

~

Tired of the sadness,

No longer recognizable,

It was not me in the mirror,

Rather a shell of who I was.

~

With eyes wide,

I looked deep,

Straining to find the innocent me,

Drawn to tears by the time I’d lost.

~

There is joy in letting go,

Finding good in what surrounds me,

Purging the cynic and skeptic,

Anchors that weighed me down.

~

I have found that place,

Pleasing to my body and soul,

Lost so many years ago,

To the ravages of maturity.

Image credit: citizenshift.org