The rain so persistent In DeKalb, Illinois Can barely find a coffee here Much less a cause for joy Of beauty and sorrow The water bleeds the seam As for the first time in twenty days To kiss, a lucid dream The rain-darkened trunks Make the red leaves glow brighter A ponderous load Makes the body seem lighter And here you are On a dark and heavy day Both of us wishing you could stay A gift of twelve hours A spiritual souvenir It's harder, though to receive a gift We know will disappear Encroachment of nausea As farewells impend Till fatefully we fret to sleep Perchance to dream again The rain-darkened trunks Make the red leaves glow brighter A ponderous load Makes the body seem lighter And there you were On a dark and heavy day Both of us wishing you could stay