Jonah.

He's the one who made the long trip--
the ship, the whale, another three days

shouting through the city. Now this--
to miss from his perch outside the walls

the destruction he'd described so well,
circumvented by their cheap tricks

like swathing the cattle in sackcloth.

What if Jesus' Sign of Jonah was not
three days in the whale/tomb then out

but the one hundred and twenty thousand
relieved Nineveans stretching arms skyward

in thanks for unmerited mercy,
the very sight of their backs

signaling a gratuitous clemency?