that bastard is a saint?

What if

alone in hell, frying on sharp stones

while Lazarus slept on Abraham’s soft bosom,

the mother’s part of Faith’s old Patriarch.

He was canonized

about the fast falling fate

of his equally bastard brothers.

Because he cared

his own do-it-yourself wretchedness.

And transcended awhile

only of others

would think a saint

of his own making

in hellfire trapped

Despite the Gospel

the gap was crossed

the rich man—first Christian—

before the crucifixion

through damnation passing

for the salvation

of those bound to come.