Keep Me In Your Heart For a While

I just heard "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon.  I've always loved that song.  It reminded me of a very special friend of mine from high school.

Tim Brown was from upstate New York not far from Buffalo and moved to our tiny Ohio town during my sophomore year.  We all called him New York.

At first annoying, Tim became one of my very best friends.  I loved him dearly.  He was one of the very few I kept in contact with over the years.  But even that was sporadic.  It would come and go in spurts.  Years of nothing interrupted occasionally by a month or so of letters, phone calls, and emails.

During our last splash of emails a couple of years ago, Tim turned me on to another incredible song by Warren Zevon.  I'd never heard it, though I had loved most of the stuff I'd heard on the radio decades earlier.  You know, "Werewolves of  London", "Lawyers, Guns, and Money", and "Excitable Boy".

All good stuff, but nothing as hauntingly beautiful as "Keep Me In Your Heart for a While".

Turns out it was an incredibly gifted dying man's farewell song.

My friend hanged himself not long after our "last splash of emails".  I found out through another high school friend whose wife happened to work with Tim's younger sister.

What a tragedy !!!!

You are in my heart, Tim.  I will keep you there for more than a while ...