Its a dark closet,
Door shut,
Bolt fixed,
Lock turned.
Reaching above the door frame,
Skeleton key missing.
Clanging of metal tells the tale.
You’ve locked yourself inside,
Stolen the key.
Don’t you want rescue,
To be saved,
Freed from this dungeon?
In an instant
Lights go out.
No sign of life beneath locked door.
All is quite,
Retreating to the recesses of your mind.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
O’ my love, why must I suffer this hell today.
Like so many days before, I fell today.
.
I’m trying to move on, but my heart won’t allow,
It’s afraid I’ll forget you if I quell today.
.
Your passing lives on in my blood and my bones,
Like a mystic potion I’m under it’s spell today.
.
Without you my sweet I am no longer whole,
Subsisting as nothing but a broken shell today.
.
Tonight I will drop to my knees and I’ll pray
That pain can be confined to it’s cell today.
.
Through tears in my eyes, for comfort I look.
There is no one to whom I can tell today.
.
So with a heart that is heavy Dom must wish you goodnight,
I’ll bid you adieu and farewell today.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I have to say that this is the toughest poetic form that I have tried to date. It requires a great deal of forethought to have it make sense and yet I still am not sure if I succeeded. If you want to give a new form a try, this might be the one to put you to the test. It certainly tested me.
.
FORM: Ghazal – (Pronunciation: “guzzle”) Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love, medieval Persian poets embraced the ghazal, eventually making it their own. Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word (the qafia, which appears twice in the first couplet). The last couplet includes a proper name, often of the poet’s. In the Persian tradition, each couplet was of the same meter and length, and the subject matter included both erotic longing and religious belief or mysticism.
Glass houses, a stone was thrown,
Where vines with thorn and poison grown.
Mirror you look, but cannot see,
Thing you hate inside is me.
So much alike, minds eye blind,
Wall of stone you hide behind.
Fear the world would see what’s real,
Confront the pain too painful to feel.
Problems perceived, faults not mine,
No matter you can’t ignore the signs.
Bury them deep, you feel you must,
Someday the damage you’ll see I trust.
Stronger than you, you never realized,
Afraid to look into my eyes.
Afraid you’ll find myself in you,
False perception like bird would flew.
Carry on this childish game,
One day to burn out a candle flame.
My hope for you be sooner I pray,
Love yourself come-what-may.
~
~~ Dominic R. DIFrancesco ~~
Shadows overhead
Cast my soul into darkness
Threatening to drown
Though I know this is not me
Imbalance marks me victim
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Sky-born droplets stream
Through riverbeds of life
Soaking to the skin
Looking towards heaven above
Awestruck…are these tears for me
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image Credit: dollarforamerica.org
The cries of children
Parents look on through their tears
Hunger still exists
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
A heart once hardened
Ferments in caustic hatred
Shutting out true love
Tragic is this festering
Leaving nothing but ashes
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
No time do I have for sadness,
No time for fear,
No time for what was,
No time for what should have been,
No time for what could have been,
Its all I can do to handle today,
To prepare for tomorrow,
To do better,
Be better than I was yesterday.
Anything else diminishes me.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Trapped in this chasm, my mind
Constantly looking…
Searching for something only I can provide
Realizing, but still denying the power
Peering into the eyes of friends and strangers
Seeking approval…
Begging for their projection of happiness
Only to be disappointed
Let down by their inability to meet my desires
My need for acceptance,
My need for love,
My need for joy that once staked claim to my soul
But has since blow away
Sailing to parts unknown on the wings of the four winds
As I lay quiet staring at the stark white ceiling
Tears, salty and warm sting my bloodshot eyes
Crying as I’ve done so many nights before
Tomorrows another day
Maybe I’ll find what I am looking for on the other side of the door
Waiting to embrace me
Envelope me
Wash me in the happiness that I so desperately pray for
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Footsteps travel on as far as the eye can see
Side-by-side in lockstep just as straight as straight could be
I followed for a time to see where they would go
After a while only one set remained in the sand it did show
I stopped in amazement as they up and disappeared
What must have happened, something tragic I feared
Turning in circles no steps did depart
They just seemed to stop never returning whence they start
The second set went on at a steady measured pace
Never picking up stride, never seeming to race
I followed for a time the solitary set of prints
Nothing about their direction offered any hints
Where they might be going I hadn’t had a clue
Walking straight and narrow they never veered from true
Feet tired and achy the end it seemed in sight
Time had passed so quickly as day gave in to night
Before the light had faded I saw a chapel up ahead
A tiny cemetery, some benches and a shed
Seated on the bench, a solitary elderly man
With a bouquet of red roses held tightly in his hand
Clearing my throat so not to startle or to scare
I took a seat on his bench and struggled not to stare
Mustering up the courage I asked if he was alone
He responded, no he wasn’t in the gentlest of tones
Looking round and round there was no one else in sight
The story that he told turned me a paler shade of white
He told me that he took this stroll nearly every day
Just he and his loving wife would walk, hold hands and pray
With a smile he continued in a soft and mild tone
That part way through their walk she couldn’t manage alone
He’d pick her up and carry her the rest of their way
Her arms around his neck begging him to stay
Home is where he’d take her and lay her down to rest
Pointing to a tiny grave, he frowned, “I know its not the best”
But I promised her I’d be with her each and every day
We’d been together 60 years I knew no other way
Tonight I told her I’d be home soon never again to leave
The pain was getting far too hard as each evening alone he’d grieve
Patting my hand with trembling legs, hunched over he did stand
Shuffling over to his darling’s grave he placed the roses from his hand
I sat and watched as he walked away ‘til he’d wandered out of sight
Never again did I see the man who endeared me on that night
He’d kept the promise never to leave that he made to his love
His tiny grave, right next to hers, they’re together up above.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 