Sorry PattyG for not getting back sooner, but I've been away for a few days. I don't know if you are familiar with the song "The Enigma" by Eric Bogle, but it concerns a young man who, at a high point of his life, drove his car to the top of a multistory carpark, locked his car, put the keys in his pocket and walked off the edge. The words to it are as follows:

Andrew had a smile on his face
The day that he resigned from the human race.
The arguments had all been heard. The verdict had been reached.
He turned his back upon his cage and leapt to his release.
Spinning like a carousel,
Andrew made no sound as he fell.

"It's hard to believe," said Andrew's friends,
"We won't be seeing Andy again.
He'd achieved most of the goals that men keep striving for:
Big house, good job, expensive car, a wife that he adored.
He had it made as far as we could tell.
We were his friends, we knew him well."

"I can't believe it's true," said Andrew's wife.
"I can't believe that Andy took his life.
I can't believe the man I love won't be coming home.
I can't believe the man I love would leave me here alone,
Without a word of love or of farewell.
He was my man. I knew him well.

"I don't believe it," Andrew's father said.
"I don't believe my little Andy's dead.
Perhaps we never were what a father and son should be,
But I always loved him - and hoped that he loved me.
Where did I go wrong? Where did I fail?
He was my son. I knew him well."

"I won't believe it," Andrew's mother cried.
"I won't believe that it was suicide.
In the last few years, I know, he may have strayed from the fold,
But he'd never put in jeopardy his own immortal soul.
He must have lost his balance, slipped and fell.
He was my son. I knew him too well."

But Andrew had a smile on his face,
As he tumbled through the fragile space
That links the known with the unknown that bridges life and death.
Time before he crossed the bridge for one final breath.
Time for one last defiant yell.
But Andrew made no sound as he fell.

I have been singing this song for about 10 years and still find it hard to sing. Eric only sings it occasionally when specially requested.

I will get back with the words of "Absent Friends" as soon as I can fish out the Album.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 6-Oct-02.