Because I know the feeling, even if I don't feel it now.

IT'S RAINING IN LOVE

by Richard Brautigan

I don't know what it is,

but I distrust myself

when I start to like a girl

      a lot.

It makes me nervous.

I don't say the right things

or perhaps I start

       to examine,

             evaluate,

                   compute

       what I am saying.

If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?"

and she says, "I don't know,"

I start thinking: Does she really like me? 

In other words

I get a little creepy. 

A friend of mine once said,

"It's twenty times better to be friends

      with someone

than it is to be in love with them." 

I think he's right and besides,

it's raining somewhere, programming flowers

and keeping snails happy.

      That's all taken care of.

                   BUT 

if a girl likes me a lot

and starts getting real nervous

and suddenly begins asking me funny questions

and looks sad if I give the wrong answers

and she says things like,

"Do you think it's going to rain?"

and I say, "It beats me,"

and she says, "Oh,"

and looks a little sad

at the clear blue California sky,

I think: Thank God, it's you, baby, this time

       instead of me.

[Stuck in my head tonight: "Act Naturally" by The Beatles.]