He Took His Life

I have loved this song ever since it first came out and since I was not sure exactly when and by which record label, I researched it at Wikipedia and found this:" a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963 as "They Long to Be Close to You," without parentheses". As it turns out, Karen was not the first who sang it but most definitely sang it first with the voice of an angel.

An 'angel' made its way into Karens voice, movements, and gentle rapport with harmony. She was innocent seduction watched over by God, family, friends and fans-1,000's of fans. I see her music in every decade especially long after the song was released or became popular on the radio, cassette, cd and now dvd market. With her gift, I became closer with mine. I never knew about how death can personally affect me until the very first time a person I knew, died. It was in the seventh grade, art class we were allowed to take in addition to required classes, and Brett was a gifted artist, quiet person with little to say but lots to draw about. Dark drawings too. The kind of stuff you see in horror comic-books and stuff hollywood studios would grab right up for the next monster-mash. But I and Mr. Krabill, our art teacher, were probably the only ones who thought Brett possessed any talent.

In his art I also saw him capturing the things he thought he would never see, Eiffel Tower in Paris, A cross of gold in the middle of Jersalem, an oasis in the Sahara Desert or a tomb in Pere LaChaisse also in Paris. Brett, when he did talk, said very little but enough for me to know he was very unhappy at home and could not wait to just graduate the fifth grade and be on his own, he did not need schooling. He had the 'god of art' and the angels he listened to help him along the way. Education was a waste of time if he had this gift to draw a new world raher than live in the world his parents put him in.

The next week Brett did not appear for class, nor in the next three hours. Around 2:00 that Tuesday, I remember hearing an announcement over the loud speaker that Brett was not going to be back at school for he had been in a terrible accident. Brett died. It was only days later that we found out it was not an accident but rather Brett purposely took his own life in his parents home that Tuesday morning to 'let his father know--I heard the angels saying they wanted to be close to me but I wasn't listening, I wanted out of school to be free to hear them. Now I am free and I can say yes, they longed me to be close to them". I was listening to that song on the bus that picked us up from school and took us home, I cried and wondered if Brett really was now, close to me' as an angel, or something. He surely was not close to anyone before death so maybe now he could be something else than just Brett . . . and closer to what really mattered.