So here we are, three leap days later, and it's Tuesday again.

SEPTEMBER RAIN for Dieter M. GräfPast autobahn construction sites,threatsof traffic. Past televisiontowersatop Hessian hills. Pastbuzzardssoaring between suddenshowers,kestrels hovering overprey,flocks of starlingsdescendinginto roadside trees. Past a freshlyplowedfield of crows. Through the cloudof spray from asphalt. Throughslapsof rain from overpasses. Pastairplanesstarting and landing over theskyscrapersof Frankfurt. Everything standing, evenruinedmedieval castles perchedstrategicallyon the passing bluffs.Passedby a car from Cologne — how the cathedralwithstoodand withstood the airraids.The rainclears;soon we'll be home, safe astowers. — 16-17 September 2001