In this unique collection, the last poems that Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore wrote while patiently enduring the final stages of cancer have been gathered together with personal reflections by his family members and close friends. His daughter describes him as a “mystic, twinkle-eyed man” who put on puppet shows, collected treasures from yard sales, played harmonica and zither and rescued animals. His stepsons recall him as a “polymath” “whose creativity and artistic talents were only exceeded by his love of God.” His wife says he was a “‘lighthouse’, right up to the end.”
Nearly six decades of spiritual seeking have been distilled into a series of luminous, powerful poems. Moore was barely able to write them by hand, but they document in honest – sometimes comical – detail the physical process of dying, and most of all his unflinching, graceful acceptance of the Divine decree. This book is not only a striking reminder of all our earthly fates, but a lyrical, loving map towards the Real.
Poem Selection from HOLY DOOR IN THE GROUND
APHORISMS TO DEATH
If the silence I hear were to turn
inside-out would it be a
boisterous Mardi Gras
or a deeper silence within
silence?
or none at all?
If the ocean were to turn
inside-out would it be
sky?
–all those stars sharks dolphins
shooting through the air?
