Because he lived till 1977,

                                   his hair as white as wool

surviving the effects both of the bomb

                                  his throne flames of fire

and of the great liturgical reform,

                                 with wheels of burning fire

he would have heard, on the remembered day

                               a stream of fire, surging

each year in his last seven, the new readings

                               clouds and darkness about him

from Daniel and the 97th Psalm

                               the mountains melting like wax.

This article appears in November 12 2018.

Maryann Corbett is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Street View, and is a past winner of the Richard Wilbur Award. Her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry 2018 as well in as the journals Christianity and Literature, Sewanee Theological Review and others.