Diary of Old Age, No. 8

Such bizarre beauty
an impossible freedom
rising from old ruins
reaching elastic skies
eclipsing darkest night,
a prolonged pilgrimage
towards silence of love
& the beckoning God
one drama at a time
letting go of gravity
to glide with pelicans
above oceanic memories
from old suffered days
when nothing mattered
of brute slavish despair,
dawns by the thousands
diving down into shadows
finding common miracles
going step by stepping
through debris & delights
now marking 50 years
of a sober & clean soul
one moment at a time,
a ridiculous story in telling
too mysterious to fathom
too good not to be true
always beginning wisdom
raised beyond imagination.

--
Alan Altany has BA & MA degrees in Catholic theology, and a Ph. D. in religious studies (University of Pittsburgh). He is a semi-retired, septuagenarian professor of Comparative Religions at a small college in Florida, USA.  He founded and edited a small magazine of poetry (The Beggar’s Bowl) and has published three books of poetry for in 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, St. Austin Review, and others. Website:  https://www.alanaltany.com/.