Joseph Poem by Francis Duggan

His years he is physically showing he walks with the aid of a walking cane
But otherwise he's very lucid and there's nothing wrong with his brain
He is up to date with the news headlines and he is well versed on current affairs
And he is one to count his blessings he says than me others have far more cares.

Joseph is in his mid seventies last year he lost Anna his wife
She suffered much pain and discomfort for the last ten months of her life
It was stomach cancer that claimed her and her death was painful and slow
In nineteen fifty they married in Christchurch New Zealand and that's fifty five years ago.

His son Dave has two teenage daughters but from him they live far away
In Queensland hundreds of kilometres north of Brisbane in the tropical Town of Mackay
Yet Joseph the Kiwi feels happy and he won't leave life get him down
In his home quite close to the sea shore in a quiet southern coastal Town.

The years are telling on poor Joseph he looks gray and wrinkled and pale
He walks stiffly with a cane's assistance time leaves everyone looking frail
He won't be going back to New Zealand in South Gippsland his bones will lay
Yet he is always happy and smiling and he makes the most of every day.