Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus told him, "This day you will be with me in paradise."
                                                    —Luke 23:43

A contradiction
to call a thief good
but it was a day
when nothing
made sense: a man
of peace and love
condemned to death,
a best friend denies
his best friend
three times, another
sells him out for silver
and, even after the agony
of nails and lashes, Jesus
forgives them all. Then,
above the screeching hate
of the Golgotha mob, a thief
begs Jesus to remember him
in his Kingdom and Jesus
answers, "Yes," turning
this sinner to a saint
christened good
his last day on earth,
his first day in Paradise.

© by Edwin Romond.
Used with the author's permission.