by Alan Altany

No. 32

When the auspicious time
for my remnant dying
comes into my old soul
& if I have a death-bed
transition opportunity,
You are without doubt
unum est necessarium
to cover my weakness
& forgive my absurdities
as I finally fade from ego
in a slow-breathing exit,
mystery of disappearance,
into the promised confines
of Your steadfastly loving
Heart where all innocence,
all wisdom, all compassion
embrace our final mortality
with a perfectly propitious
silence echoing through
the ecstasies of eternity
just this near side of hope
as I breathe a last breath
in mystical passage home
where beginnings begin
& surprises grow forever.

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Alan Altany has BA & MA degrees in Catholic theology, and a Ph. D. in religious studies (University of Pittsburgh). After an academic career, he is a semi-retired, septuagenarian professor of Comparative Religions at a small college in Florida. In the past he has also been the founder & editor of a small magazine of poetry (The Beggar’s Bowl), a high school teacher, factory and lawn maintenance worker, hotel clerk, novelist, delivery truck driver, etc. He has published three books of poetry in a series, “Christian Poetry of the Sacred”: A Beautiful Absurdity (2022), The Greatest Longing (2023), and Intimations (2024). His poetry has been published by Tipton Poetry Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Valley Voices, Sand Hill Literary Magazine, The Hong Kong Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Montreal Review, and others. He writes with the steadfast support of his golden retriever, Zeke.