I want to show him my child, restore him
The dignity that had fled him that day
When his heart crumpled in its cavity

I want him to know that my heart expands
When I see my child and woman nearby
And that in this way I have revived him

I want to tell him there that I love him
Though I don’t recall him well, I know him
And I’ve done what I could to make him proud

I want to tell my story from that day
How I cared for his wife and his children
For as long as it was needful, fair and right

I want him to know that I don’t blame God,
That my youth was spent trying to find Him
And He told me to seek out truth myself

And so, I want to tell him that he isn’t
In an old grave at Mu Mission Station
Nor the hallways of Kuri Dom Building

He was “Called to God” and his heart obeyed
His best friends, Stewart, Bruce and Maeve, had stayed
We became a family he bequeathed

I want him to know that I learned in life
Not to want for the sake of want, but know
That for what may be lost, much may be gained

I am grateful, God, woman and child, for
Such grace, the simplicity of love; grief,
For complexity in its expression

No. 73 was a British Saturday morning magazine television show broadcast live on ITV from 2 January 1982 to 27 March 1988. I loved watching it every morning when we lived in the United Kingdom. The show's introductory theme song chorus line was “Get down to 73”. A different No. 73 was also the block of flats in which my family lived from about 1984 until 1987 when my father died from a heart attack on 17 January. Both houses had a red front door with the number 73 on it.

This poem was concluded and published
on Thursday, 1 May 2025 at 3:16 am in
my present home at Gannet Street, Lae