May 30
By

    From campus top to bottom
         News of the lineup spread.
    Decemb’rists, N.E.R.D to headline
         The student papers said.
    Oh hear band wagons rumble,
         Oh hear folks shout and bray:
    “NU brought my favorite band!”
         A freshman says: “Who’re they?”

    But long it hovered distant
         Far off, distant from shore.
    How long would we have to wait?
         It seemed like months or more.
    But through the chilly April,
         And out of verdant May,
    Most sudden and triumphant,
         Burst this our Dillo Day.

    Then all were for a party;
         Not one was homework bound;
    The senior helped the freshman,
         It all was good and sound.
    The drinks were fairly portioned;
         Around the cups were doled;
    Deftly was the keg then tapped,
         Like in the days of old.

    From deep inside Tech basement
         The engineers emerge
    And in a res hall bathroom stall
         Do drunks their stomachs purge.
    From South to North and elsewhere,
         March hopeful student throngs,
    None forget their wond’rous drink,
         Concealed, to bring along.

    But some they do not sip at all;
         These are a special few:
    Their pastime independent
         Of sauce or shot or brew.
    This, their chosen medicine
         Is not of liquid state.
    Its psychotropic properties
         With reggae we equate.

    Spoke one of these non-drinkers:
         ”Hey man, I’ve got to say
    They really get off easy
         Calling it Dillo Day.
    Is it a mythic creature?
         What does a Dillo do?”
    His friend replied, a bit red-eyed:
         ”I think my mind you blew.”

    But away from these hard thinkers,
         Deeply philosophizing.
    Let’s away to the main stage
         Where spirits there are rising.
    And even if the artists
         Take their sweet time to play
    Old songs, you know — the ones we like –
         We’ll listen anyway.

    The field is muddy underfoot
         From rains and fell flip flop;
    Mass convening students they
         Just step and sink on top.
    The muck clings fast, corporeal,
         A second skin it forms.
    The sun glares down, upon their legs:
         A dirty cast dried warm.

    In the sunny afternoon
         The girls go out to tan,
    While others go a-swimming
         In old Lake Michigan.
    Abandoned on the sandy shore
         Are clothes at random flung:
    A tribute to a happy day
         All year its praises sung.

    To one last concert outing
         All go as night descends;
    For one last bout of revelry,
         Northwestern to upend!
    Sprung full of springtime folly
         And brimming like the lake,
    Gather students, thousands strong
         Some music to intake.

    As lights dim to mere flickers
         Most folks are still carousing,
    Though the writhing mass does seem
         In need of a delousing.
    One student stands among them all —
         His cries they quickly fade.
    He is in search of his good friend
         Who’s somewhere getting laid.

    The concert it crescendos.
         Some people loudly whoop.
    Echoes down the lake are heard
         By dwellers of the Loop.
    The crowds move swift and scatter,
         A search for shoes commences,
    And townies who are slyly there,
         Are gone by scaling fences.

    But now are gone all revelers
         To rest for tests ahead.
    Messed clothes strewn all about them,
         They sprawl out on their beds.
    And now arrives the clean up crew
         Anew the fields to make.
    Alas! when will the next time come
         We can all just wake and bake?

    So another Day does pass —
         One not to be forgot.
    Littered with fond memories
         Of students CAs caught.
    The summer lies ahead of us,
         The school year lies behind
    But this fine day shall help us keep
         A Dillo state of mind.

    Inspired by Thomas Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient Rome

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