Donal Mahoney- A Poem

Night Light

The last visitor before I sleep

is always the old priest

puffing up the stairs to my door,

a wine cask under each arm,

a loaf of pumpernickel in his teeth.

He’s always too late to give the last rites,

and even though I’m usually dead by then,

it falls to me to console him.

So I say, “Father, Father,

you don’t have to hurry.

Faith is no longer a klieg.

It’s a night light left burning all day,

and its bulb is hissing.” 

Appeared in print in Commonweal Magazine

November 6, 2009

475 Riverside Drive, Room 405

New York, NY 10115

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Nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, Donal Mahoney has had work published in a variety of print and electronic publications in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. 

Some of his earliest work can be found at http://booksonblog12.blogspot.com/