i need you to be here with me not way over in a bucket seat

a sickness is coming on. my head feels as though a balloon is being blown up inside it -- the helium kind -- as though i'm at the fair and a laughing little man (with red lipstick and white-face painted onto his thin lips and high cheekbones) is filling the balloon in my head with a long shrrrrp squeak. a sickness is indeed coming on.

it's the eve of lovers. it rained all day. henry skipped down the sidewalk with his umbrella. the river was high, the barges sitting in the muddy water, waiting to drift away on a lazy working day. the trees on the banks stand mud-footed up to their knees in the river. the rain on the roof is loud and sounds as though it is raining harder than it is.

if the rain lets up we'll walk to the library tomorrow. if i possessed any of the spirit i used to ooze from every pore we'd walk and splash through the rain. the spirit of adventure is gone -- too many logistics, like sore throats and handfuls of borrowed books, and the clean-up of muddy chunks from the living room floor while henry and jude sit soggy and screaming. if i could hire a professional lozenge and a book carrying butler and a dust-buster swiffer weilding custodian i might have a little more zip and sparkle. what has happened to me?

tomorrow we will finish our valentines. this means that jude will crawl on the floor looking for bits of paper to eat and henry will smear paint all over his body and i will cut hearts and micro-manage the use of glue. then we will deliver them to neighboring lovelies, clean house and i will cook up a valentine feast for the three loves i love most.



a bob dylan valentine.

Can't you hear that rooster crowin'?
Rabbit runnin' down across the road
Underneath the bridge where the water flowed through
So happy just to see you smile
Underneath the sky of blue
On this new morning, new morning
On this new morning with you.

Can't you hear that motor turnin'?
Automobile comin' into style
Comin' down the road for a country mile or two
So happy just to see you smile
Underneath the sky of blue
On this new morning, new morning
On this new morning with you.

The night passed away so quickly
It always does when you're with me.

Can't you feel that sun a-shinin'?
Ground hog runnin' by the country stream
This must be the day that all of my dreams come true
So happy just to be alive
Underneath the sky of blue
On this new morning, new morning
On this new morning with you.

So happy just to be alive
Underneath the sky of blue
On this new morning, new morning
On this new morning with you.
New morning . . .