Yes, I was there, I’ll admit,
For all the world to see,
And yes, I was guilty, that I
know,
As guilty as could be.
My vantage point was just as
close
As anyone else’s could be
But unlike the other
malefactor,
All I could see was me.
I’ll admit, though, I really
must,
This man was truly different
But at that time, I wanted out,
I could never be repentant.
What I did I would do again,
That was the way of life for
me,
I railed against him, you
would recall
But I was being me, you see.
I knew of his exploits and
miracles
Of his power and compassion,
And given the trouble we were
in,
That was the time for action.
If you are the Christ, I
called out,
Save yourself and us,
How I would have liked a
miracle
From this man they called Jesus!
I was getting my just desserts
But this man had done no
wrong,
All the more reason to act
quickly
And from the cross get us
down.
He did not respond to me
But an interesting thing
occurred,
The other malefactor called
out
And his request he heard.
It didn’t make any sense to me
What the other man requested
But upon the response of
Jesus
He decidedly rested.
He referred to him as a king
And obviously, as having a dominion,
And asked to be remembered
When Jesus came into his
kingdom.
in my desperate situation
I found that quite strange,
All of us in the same
predicament,
That man had to be deranged!
You see, I too had a closeup
view
But so very different from
him,
His spiritual eyes were opened
However, mine must have been
dim.
In this man, he saw something
That I certainly did not see
And in that enlightened moment
He believed it most assuredly.
The words were spoken with
power
They spoke of that very day,
I wish I knew a little more
But that is all that I can
say.
There was hope in the
recipient’s eyes
Where before there was none
And even the Roman centurion
remarked
That this Jesus was God’s Son.
Yes, I had a closeup view too
But that was to no avail,
While the other man was successful
It seems, I had totally failed.
Stewart Russell © April 2020
