Attention Must Be Paid

     In Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willie Lohman's wife says, "...finally, attention must be paid to such a man."  Although I certainly do not equate my late father with Willie Lohman, but this line has stuck in my mind.
     So, I say of William Davis, my adoptive father, attention must be paid to such a man. He passed from this world in March of this year due to respiratory failure and complications from Alzheimer's Disease, aged eighty nine.
     In my youth we clashed often and sometimes, bitterly. I suppose I was too much my father's son, that is, one stubborn bastard! Later in life, we both took great pains to heal that relationship. We never parted without saying we loved one another and meant it.
     So what did this man do to deserve note? He married the love of his life, my mother Marian, grieved her loss till the day he died(as I shall). He fought a war to stem the tide of fascism and came home in one piece. Took a bastard infant as son and loved him despite his many failings. Workrd hard all his life with his family his only concern. Served his church and several civic organizations and did not know a stranger.
     I trust he and my mother now are together and watching over me. He loved Jesus and , I hope, has been properly rewarded for his faith. The fact that I do not share that faith doesn't make me admire it less.
     So to my fathers, to Richard Cox who only shot his load in my biot mom and then denied me, and her, Go to hell, you are not, were not, my true father. You don't matter. To Bill Davis, I will love and honor your memory for whatever time I have left. Hopefully we will meet again. You made me proud to be your son.
    Finally, I think of Yeats' line, was it from  Fergus and the Druid?  Perhaps. Let this be for him, my Dad. "Have yourself a good look now, for when I'm gone you'll never see the likes of a man like me, again..."