Spring Rains

Last night it rained hard, and Mayumi slept poorly, and because she slept poorly, so did I. I can sleep through almost anything natural - a side effect of growing up on a tall hill in windy, rainy Missouri :) - but human groaning, moaning, twisting, and turning wakes me up every time.

Then it was warm this morning, or, cool, at least, but warm for winter. My Journalism class let out a little early after the exam, so, since I had a few minutes, I walked over to Flat Branch. It was pregnant with memories, so I kept walking along the stream, under a bridge, and beyond... to where the creek seemed to materialize from a sort of urban spring.

It was beautiful in that gothic, urban sort of way... the the buildings all around, and then this small creek hidden in the crevice. The water was high because of the rains, and murky, and there was trash here and there, but the scene was still surprisingly pristine given the way it was hidden in the middle of downtown. I climbed down the rocks to the edge, and sat on a rock there for awhile, listening to music and not even bothering to take off my backpack, which felt so light and easy.

Then I decided to start picking up trash. In such an environment, it's a bit easier said than done. I'm not sure how easy crossing the stream is in low water, but in high water there were very few possible places to cross, and the other side of the river was covered in leaves and reeds and crumbling rocks, so I had to climb slowly and gingerly to reach the litter on that bank.

Ohne Dich came on my shuffle, and I listened to it, and denied it, although I didn't know who I was talking to. Might as well make it plural, I thought distantly... and cancelled the words of the song with 'Ohne Euch Kann Ich Doch Sein". When Ohne Dich finished, I switched to Enya and watched the stream a bit more. Then I checked the clock and realized that I had 15 minutes to make almost the widest possible cross campus trek, from Flat Branch in the Western part of Downtown to Anheuser Busch in the Southeastern part of Campus. I went quickly.

When I finally got done with all of my engagements and left the library, I happened to be standing beneath a tree when the rain started up again. This particular tree still had it's brown, shriveled fall leaves, and when the rain drops hit, it sounded strange and wonderful, almost exactly like a rainstick. :)