Former U.S. Rep. and longtime Newton resident Barney Frank has begun hospice care for congestive heart failure at his home in Maine, Politico is reporting.

“At 86, I’ve made it longer than I thought,” Frank told Politico. “At some point, my heart’s just going to give out, and it’s reaching that stage. So I’m taking it easy at home and dealing with it by relaxing.”

Frank, a liberal lightning rod known for his way of speaking—his words often cut through colleagues like a hot knife through butter—is keeping true to form and choosing, as Dylan Thomas once urged, to “not go gentle into that Good Night.”

The 16-term congressman and first member of Congress to serve openly gay is about to release a book, “The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy.”

In the book, set to be released in September, Frank argues that the political left wing in America has ignored economic inequality and taken unpopular positions regarding law enforcement, immigration and sexual identity.

“These errors led many voters to believe that the Left was either indifferent or hostile to their interests,” the book’s description on Amazon reads.

During his three decades on Capitol Hill, Frank caught the ire of Republicans and Democrats alike, with his often bellicose demeanor and brazen way of admonishing his opponents.

Frank was initially private about his sexuality, but after a public scandal involving his hiring of a male prostitute as a personal assistant, Frank came out as gay in 1987.

For a while, he was the only openly gay person to have served in Congress. And it didn’t hurt his political career. He went on to win again and again until retiring in 2013, when Joseph Kennedy III took over that congressional seat. Jake Auchincloss currently holds the seat.

Read the complete Politico article here.