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.