Du Bist Wie Eine Blume (You Are Like a Flower)

Du bist wie eine Blume
So hold und schön und rein;
Ich schau’ dich an, und Wehmut
Schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.

Mir ist, als ob ich die Hände
Aufs Haupt die legen solit’,
Betend, daß Gott dich erhalte
So rein und schön und hold.

You are like a flower
so lovely and beautiful and pure
I look upon you, and sorrow
Steals into my heart

For me, ought my hands
to lay softly upon your head
praying, that God keep you
so pure and beautiful and lovely.

-Heinrich Heine

This beautfiul poem was my introduction to the German language. It has always struck me as philosophical as well: the man or woman who finds “the one” only to discover that the object of his (or her) affection belongs to another (or is in some way out-of-reach). When and where we meet others, is it a coincidence? How different our lives might have been, had we met those we encounter sooner rather than later, or later rather than sooner.