Lost amongst chaos
Something had to change quickly
To keep sanity
In the quiet dark I sat
Alone with only my thoughts
Finally peace knocked
Begging me to let her in
A most welcome friend
Come home to roost for a time
I just hope she plans to stay
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
This road,
Long,
Winding,
Uncharted,
Devoid of footsteps.
I am a trailblazer,
Adventurer,
Explorer,
Magellan.
I am a father,
Husband,
Friend,
Lover.
I am a fighter,
A force of nature,
Brutal in defense of those I love,
Unrelenting.
I am kind,
Generous,
Sympathetic,
Compassionate.
I am living,
Doing the best I can,
Grateful for all I have,
Hopeful for all that I want,
This is the life journey I must walk alone.
.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Blocking out the world
Retreating into my mind
Hoping for quiet
Pulling back from the chaos
So hectic and destructive
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
End of day quiet
As sunset breezes relieve
Easing tired mind
The joy of dark solitude
Readies me for a new start
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Solitude scares me not as I wallow in the quiet.
Exquisite silence joins me, sits beside me like an old friend,
Placing a congratulatory arm around me in comfort.
As refreshing as a hot bath or a shot of Glenlivet;
Sharpening the senses as a razors edge,
Carving away at the clutter of modernity,
Replacing it with the simple rhythms of my own beating heart.
At times, as joyous as intimacy,
Energizing and euphoric yet primitive;
Cleansing the mind, lifting the soul.
This rejuvenation, one of the great pleasures of life,
Elementary in conception, is often not easily obtained
As responsibilities, self-imposed or otherwise throw up their gauntlets.
Unavoidable without effort in our hectic sphere;
Time for self must be apportioned for sanity’s sake
If we are to live healthful and fruitful lives.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Coffee black and strong,
Gripped between cigarette stained fingers,
Making small talk,
How ’bout the weather?
Did ya see the news?
Filler to pass the time.
Old men hunched over cold eggs and bacon,
Swilling bottomless cups of mud,
Chain smoking Lucky’s,
Melancholy in the swirling cloud of second-hand smoke.
Each one has a story,
Exaggerated tales of loves lost,
Fables of misfortune and triumph,
White lies cast as bait to a sympathetic crowd.
“Sweetie”, a patron’s cry,
Barking for a check, menu, or refill,
Significant in this sea of anonymity,
Otherwise silently ignored.
The revolving door,
Room for one more lonely transient,
One more cup of thick black coffee,
Held between nicotine stained fingers,
Another tall tale wrapped in white lies,
Told to another friend,
Scarcely more than a stranger,
Just another forlorn castaway,
Adrift on a sea of tribulation.
By D. R. DiFrancesco
Touching heaven with finger-like peaks
Bathed in purple and black
Crags and fissures a sign of her violent past
Yet in these chiseled features there is peace
Calm in her desolation
Joy in her solitude
Rains come, seldom, brief and miniscule
Life giving none-the-less
Colors erupt skyward from cracks and crevasses
Green, yellow, orange, and purple
Clothing fit for a queen
Floral draped plains bow at her feet
Only the finest for such a star
Sierra Estrella her name
But the cape once so lovely abandons her
Leaving her naked, hard, and rough
No less beautiful in the raw
Standing tall, she resumes her watch
Desert, now void of an audience unfurls
Bowing blindly to her majesty
Hawks and buzzards her only court
Left to marvel at her magnificence
Her strength, her beauty, her wonder.
The Sierra Estrella Mountain range (estrella in spanish is “star”) is located southwest of Phoenix Arizona. My home looks over these mountains and in the years that I have lived here, I have never gotten tired of looking at them.
By D. DiFrancesco
Pale blue cloudless skies
God’s of granite rise to meet it
Hawks and buzzards scream their cries
Parched and cracking earth crumbles bit by bit.
Yet life does thrive in this barren wasteland
Angry flora and fauna its solemn masters
Brown and tan the palette at hand
Landscape the pupil, sun the headmaster.
Cliff dwellings and hieroglyphs call home this domain
Once proud inhabitants have faded and gone
Arachnids and echoes are all that remain
Of an era that is all but bygone.
Still man insists on taming the unattainable
Its lifeblood rerouted and dammed
For cities and towns, its inhabitants expendable
The resultant effects unplanned.
Yet with all the scrub and cactus and scorpion
Its peace and beauty abound
The mountains and valleys elicit euphoria
No greater gift can be found.
Try as we might to alter its reality
The eagle keeps watch over this land
Man and machine try to prove natures frailty
But nature does refuse their demand.
As the celestial heat wave succumbs to twilight
Nocturnal denizens hiss and bay
Under constellations hunters commence the fight
For the strong to live another day.
With each days pass the circle unbroken
The animal and land meld into one
Of mountains and desert, lore has been spoken
In God’s own will be done.
Dom DiFrancesco 