Surreal Moment

I headed to the university library early yesterday to study for an exam. I made my way to a more lounge-like space that I hadn't visited before. Imagine my shock and pleasure when I found my favorite poem EVAR painted on the wall:

Hälfte des Lebens
 
Mit gelben Birnen hänget
Und voll mit wilden Rosen
Das Land in den See,
Ihr holden Schwäne,
Und trunken von Küssen
Tunkt ihr das Haupt
Ins heilignüchterne Wasser.

Weh mir, wo nehm’ ich, wenn
Es Winter ist, die Blumen, und wo
Den Sonnenschein,
Und Schatten der Erde?
Die Mauern stehn
Sprachlos und kalt, im Winde
Klirren die Fahnen.

It's a poem by Friedrich Hoelderlin from the early 19th century. I adore this poem and have since I was a kid. I memorized it in 8th grade, just because, and I can still recite it at will. Translating it doesn't really do it justice, but to me, it's about the changing of the seasons, the coming of winter, and the melancholy you (might) feel as you age, looking back at your fleeting youth. Yeah, so I was emo before that was even a word, so what? ;) And the language is just BEAUTIFUL. I get goosebumps when I read it.

Anyway, it was a very bright moment in a day filled with nasty, cold weather, exams, lab, bad news about financial aid, riding on jam-packed public transportation, and exhaustion barely held at bay by copious amounts of caffeine.

I know now where I'll be doing all of my studying in the future.