A palm, I said on Sunday
As I stood upon my bed
Looking in a window
At the outside overhead
I saw a smear of moonbeam
That screamed out yesterday
Then watched the shallow sun arise
While bright stars fade away
I whispered to a waning willow
Weeping on the street
Why so sad, my troubled tree
What dream has caused you grief
The willow said that sun does blind
Those shadows all deceive
Black earth is damp upon my feet
No longer I believe
So, trash the vexing memories, said I
Let the past rewrite each lie
Turn that icy barb of fate
From sorrow - now don’t cry
Francis J Grasso ©08.23.2025
Categories:
grasso, light,
Form: Rhyme
I’ll be the winds I promise you
Sweet dreams to blow your way
In early morning I’ll be cool rain
To start each fresh new day
No more memories for me
Not worth the cost to carry
Bright sunny days are all I want
And a moon and I’ll be merry
So, if you hear the thunder crack
And see the sky turn gray
Hold on tight to your loveliness
We’ll be a thousand miles away
Francis J Grasso ©2025.08.07
Categories:
grasso, joy, love,
Form: Rhyme
The touch that never leaves your heart
A quiet sigh within
Longing through each hopeless night
For a love that burned with sin
Candescent fires rage on still
Their passion twists your soul
Heartless lust meant just to thrill
Leaves a bitter toll
And in the early morning calm
The demons from that night
Exposed now without darkness’ cover
Stand naked in the morning light
Francis J Grasso Sept 21 2024
Categories:
grasso, desire, love, passion,
Form: Quatrain
Time is the currency of love
Stay mindful of the thought
Be careful how you spend it
For if you sell love short
You can never reclaim it
Before you realize what you have done
Love will be gone
Purchased by someone else
Paid for with their own precious time
Francis J Grasso - Sept 15, 2024
Categories:
grasso, love, wisdom,
Form: Free verse
Each relic here
Looks back at me
And shares
A sacred memory
Of every joy
And all the tears
Acquired living
Through those years
They show the smiles
Each taste and smell
New joys that thrilled
Sad tears that fell
Your look of love
The gates of hell
Pained memories of
Our last farewell
Francis J Grasso written … Jun 26, 2024
Categories:
grasso, sad love,
Form: Rhyme
As the sun shone brightly, glowing
Lighting trails of mystery
Oh, the dreams of idle treasure
Filled the soul in me
But I have lost those dreams from springtime
Every one now dead and gone
And when the darkness overtakes me
I will remain without a song
Francis J Grasso written Feb 23, 2024
Categories:
grasso, introspection,
Form: Quatrain
Hold your children close sweet Jesus
Press them to your heart
See the sadness in each spirit
Watch as lives are torn apart
Witness the heartbreak in the living
Daylight hides their reverence
See the scorn beneath their silence
Feel their fell ambivalence
From their folly of false wisdom
And the sorrow that became dismay
Waiting with every good intention
But never worthy even for a day
When death stills repenting tears
And ends those long tormented years
They will die with hapless feelings
Unfounded guilt and grief and fears
Francis J Grasso written 2021.08.28
Categories:
grasso, death, devotion, faith, god,
Form: Quatrain
.The Apple.
.bud.
.bloom.
.fall.
.pie.
.
.
.
Francis J Grasso 202106.20
Categories:
grasso, fruit, life,
Form: Free verse
I looked at Mars this evening
His face was stern and cold
With a menaced voice so mean and gruff
And words both firm and bold
He spends his days in conflict
At night he counts his gold
And all his life he dealt with strife
His world to be controlled
But Venus smiled as I went by
She lives each day in bliss
Singing heartfelt melodies
Of a life spent in remiss
Francis J Grasso 2021.07.21
Categories:
grasso, fantasy, planet, silly,
Form: Quatrain
Smell a blossom,
Feel it rain,
Kiss the breeze,
It's spring again!
Light your candles,
Lift your head!
See the world
the past is dead!
So sing a hymn,
Or Hum a song.
Celebrate!
It's been too long!
Francis J Grasso ©2020.08.09
Categories:
grasso, hope, spring,
Form: Rhyme
When the shadows, then darkness
Hide the colors of the day
And a serene Sunday morning
Steals the spirit's faith away
When the last dream is a memory
And there is no place to go
And the warmest summer breezes
Have become the winter snow
Can a tiny mottled sparrow
With its wings of feathers fair
Lift a heart so bold and daring
Up to fly in frozen air
Will he see beyond the valley
Of the wicked and the sin
And can he rise above the searing pain
That drives him down again
Then bind my heart with threads of iron
Seal my fate with lore
Leave my soul in hells of fire
Then let me soar once more
Francis J Grasso © 02.26.2020
Categories:
grasso, bird, courage, life, passion,
Form: Quatrain
Mission
The poet's mission - to desensitize an over sensitive world...
Francis J Grasso ©2018.02.04
Categories:
grasso, poets,
Form: Monoku
SWEET TEARS of SORROW
Sweet tears of sorrow streaming down,
I feel your warm embrace.
Falling as you break the strings
that hold my heart in place.
Why do some dreams wander aimlessly,
like a beggar with no home.
Then wash up on a lifeless shore
to fade...and lie alone.
Hopes that come from a lonely heart
depend on fortune's empty call.
Never able to receive God's peace,
left to live in dead Heaven's pall.
Francis J Grasso 06.24.2016
Categories:
grasso, life, sad,
Form: Quatrain
What came first?
Terrorists or guns?
Hmm-mm!
What came first?
Terrorists or swords?
Hmm-mm!
What came first?
Terrorists or clubs?
Hmm-mm!
What came first?
Terrorists or man?
Hmm!
Who made man?
Terrorists or god!
Ooh!
Francis J Grasso
Categories:
grasso, god, wisdom,
Form: Free verse