Box of Rain

     Look out of any window
     any morning, any evening, any day
     Maybe the sun is shining
     birds are winging or
     rain is falling from a heavy sky -
     What do you want me to do,
     to do for you to see you through?
     this is all a dream we dreamed 
     one afternoon long ago 

     Walk out of any doorway
     feel your way, feel your way
     like the day before
     Maybe you'll find direction
     around some corner
     where it's been waiting to meet you -
     What do you want me to do,
     to watch for you while you're sleeping?
     Well please don't be surprised
     when you find me dreaming too

     Look into any eyes
     you find by you, you can see 
     clear through to another day
     I know it's been seen before 
     through other eyes on other days 
     while going home --
     What do you want me to do,
     to do for you to see you through?
     It's all a dream we dreamed 
     one afternoon long ago

     Walk into splintered sunlight
     Inch your way through dead dreams
     to another land
     Maybe you're tired and broken
     Your tongue is twisted
     with words half spoken 
     and thoughts unclear
     What do you want me to do
     to do for you to see you through
     A a box of rain will ease the pain 
     and love will see you through

     Just a box of rain -
     wind and water -
     Believe it if you need it,
     if you don't just pass it on
     Sun and shower -
     Wind and rain -
     in and out the window
     like a moth before a flame

     It's just a box of rain
     I don't know who put it there
     Believe it if you need it
     or leave it if you dare
     But it's just a box of rain
     or a ribbon for your hair
     Such a long long time to be gone 
     and a short time to be there 

reprinted with permissions: copyright Ice Nine Publishing - see Grateful Dead Lyrics.

In A Box of Rain, Robert Hunter's collected Grateful Dead lyrics, the poet comments on this song:

Phil Lesh wanted a song to sing to his dying father and had composed a piece complete with every vocal nuance but the words. If ever a lyric "wrote itself," this did—as fast as the pen would pull.

The book A Box of Rain (Penguin Books, 1990, 1993 ISBN 0 14 01.3451 4) contains the lyrics to all the songs Hunter wrote in collaboration with various members of the Grateful Dead (Jerry Garcia, Ron McKernan, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman, Mickey Hart, Keith Godchaux) between 1965 and 1993. It's an encyclopedic reference liberally flavored with the writer's comments, such as the above.