Tourists and visitors to Aesee Lake in Meunster, Germany have been witness this year to a tragic tale of unrequited love. A rare and elegant black swan has spent the summer courting his love to no avail, following her, circling her and warning all others to stay away.

The object of his affection? A pedal boat shaped like a swan.

Since his arrival at the lake in May, the black swan has been staying by his love’s side. Biologists say his behavior is typical of a lovestruck swan.

The swan boat is many times the size of the black swan, but it may be her size and the elegant sweep of her neck that attracted him. Tourists have beome wary of renting out the plastic pedal boat because the black swan follows alongside.

Swans mate for life and so this may be the most star-crossed love story of all, for no matter how long her courts her, she can never be his,

Now that winter is coming, the swan has so far refused to leave and fly south, staying close by his love. As the pedal boat swan cannot take wing and join him, the owner of the boat has agreed to move it to a nearby zoo so that the couple can spend the winter in a warm and safe place.

Talking of unrequited love, that reminds me of Russell Dalrymple. “Who?” you may ask. Well, he was actually Bob Balaban who played the part of Russell in the Seinfeld series on television.

If I mention that he was the television producer who was going to back Jerry and George in their proposed series about “nothing”, you might remember him. I freely admit that I had to research to find out the name of the character Bob Balaban played but his one-sided love affair with Elaine Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is seared into my memory.

There was something innocent and wistful about his puppydog love for Elaine so that, although his story remains funny, it is also quite poignant. To give up everything and join Greenpeace in the belief that Elaine cared about whales, now that is devotion. And to be lost overboard from a tiny boat in pitching seas when trying to stop whalers, well, it is melodramatic but also sad.

Like all of Seinfeld, the story is a slice from life, exaggerated and pushed to the borders of sanity. But it contains that core of truth that all good fiction has. It just might be true, somewhere, somehow…

Clive

Among the stories of Great Romances, there are always those tragic tales of great love that never was.

The song “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt is an ode to just such a tale. Woven into the delicate melody is the deep melancholy of a man who has fallen in love at first sight with a woman he cannot hope to have as his own. He begins almost hopefully, perhaps caught up in those first few moments of heart-stopping attraction:

My life is brilliant
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

But the true nature of the situation soon invades his thinking and reason pushes aside those blinding moments when the heart soars.

You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be
with you.

It’s a brilliant stroke that the song leaves us never sure if the singer is simply recalling an event or if this was a deep fantasy of an unbalanced man.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last ’till the end.

The video clears any doubts as to the depth of his feelings about this woman he has seen only in a passing moment. As he sings the last verse, he removes his shirt and shoes, empties his pockets and lines them up in front of him in a methodical and orderly fashion.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw your face in
a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

As the realization of the futility of this love takes over his consciousness, the singer leaps from a high wall into the sea and the last few lines of despair ring out as he hits the water.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it’s time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

You’re Beautiful Video - James Blunt