“Whoever would deny me before men,”
You said once, “I, too, will deny
Before my Father God in heaven.”

I denied you
Three times
In one night,

Left you alone to die
And ran outside to cry,
A grown man like a child.

I warned you once beside a treasure-haul of fish,
“Away from me! I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
You told me not to be afraid.

I was.
I am.
I failed.

You said we’d fish together, filled my hands
With broken bread and scraps of fish
To feed the hungry crowds — I touched your miracles.

I promised I would go with you
To prison and to death
But all my courage died there, cold beside that fire.

Yet now, at dawn, you come to me
With breakfast on the beach
And bid my lips repeat, three times, “I love you.”

“Follow me,” you said once
By a treasure-haul of fish;
“Follow me,” you say again — even after this.