UPDATE: I AM RELIEVED AND ASHAMED TO LEARN THAT AN UNFOUNDED RUMOR ABOUT A FRIEND’S CAUSE OF DEATH MADE IT ONTO THESE PAGES. CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA IS WHAT TOOK THE LIFE OF THE MAN DISCUSSED BELOW, AND NOTHING ELSE. I BEG THE FORGIVENESS OF MEMBERS OF PETER’S FAMILY FOR REPEATING AN ERRONEOUS ACCOUNT. PETER’S LOSS REMAINS AN INEXPLICABLE TRAGEDY. MY PRAYERS ARE WITH HIM.
I don’t remember much from 8th Grade English class. But I do recall two poems, Ozymandias and Richard Corey.
The first, by Percy Shelley, is better known. It was taught by rote to students for generations, and may still be today. But Richard Corey, by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the lesser known, I remember more clearly.
Richard Corey is about a man about town who has everything going for him. He is liked and admired by his neighbors; he is handsome and wealthy.
Here is how it goes:
WHENEVER Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Naturally, I was surprised when I read the ending to the poem. It was as incongruous as Robinson intended it to be. And it was starkly adult. Right then and there, at age 13, I knew my classmates and I were deemed ready to begin learning about the other side of life.
A couple of years ago, I befriended a super-nice guy in the area where I now live. He was in his fifties, and in better shape than most 25-year olds — a strong, good-looking guy, a natural athlete, with a flash of a smile. Peter worked as an assistant golf pro at a tony Westchester Country Club. He was divorced, but has had two or three girlfriends in the time I have known him.
We belonged to a local association together where everybody liked him, and I took to dropping him off at his house at night after meetings because he didn’t drive. I expected to drop him off last night. I cleaned the passenger side of my Ford before pulling out of my driveway.
Turns out I didn’t have to. Last Tuesday, on a beautiful August afternoon, my friend Peter filled his pockets with stones, stepped into his pool and sank to the bottom, where he stayed. I’ll never know why. No one will.
Peter K. was 58. RIP.
Mr. O’Reilly,
I am a relative of the deceased and I want to set the record straight on this. He mentioned your article on Winehouse earlier this summer and it randomly occurred to me to check your site again now that this has happened. I would like to know where you heard this account. The investigator told us his pockets were EMPTY and that the only rocks were the ones used to hold the blanket in place that covered him after police and medical personnel arrived. Furthermore, it does not take a mathematician to understand that whatever pebbles one could stuff in one’s pockets would be insufficient to sink a person. Unfortunately, his landlady is a highly bizarre and insensitive woman, apparently terrified of being sued or implicated in any wrong-doing (despite the fact that no one accused her of anything). As such, she took it upon herself to spread this slander and innuendo in local papers and online. Perhaps you heard this account as a result of her activities. Speak to the local association; there is a member who spoke with the investigator. I would appreciate an amendment to this article and for you to cease distributing this false account of what happened. Beyond the factual inaccuracy, as a relative, I can say that he valued life and would be horrified at these rumors.
I cannot describe how badly I feel for repeating this terrible rumor. Please accept my most profound apologies and thanks for the correct information. This now makes sense. The Peter I got to know loved life, indeed.
Sincerely,
Bill
One other note: the medical examiner said that he suffered a cardiac episode due to arrhythmia while swimming.