The One Person Who Truly Understands Your Heart

Today, for no particular reason,

as I sip a cup of hazelnut coffee,

I find myself wishing there were at least one person

before whom I could open the heart I have kept closed

and finally speak the words I have long hidden away.


Someone who, when I speak of lonely memories,

would quietly say, “I will stay beside you.”

Someone who, when I speak of parting,

would look at me with dew gathering in their eyes.

Someone who, when I speak of hope,

would become happy, immersed in dreams alongside me.


Though life in this harsh world

wears us down at every winding turn,

there are moments when,

over the quiet leisure of a single cup of tea,

we long for one person

with whom even sorrow can be shared and slowly sipped together—

the one person who truly understands the heart.

   — from The One Person Who Truly Understands Your Heart by poet Eun-mi Bae


At times, I wonder

whether I, too, have such a person in my life—

someone who truly understands my heart.


As I sit before a cup of hazelnut coffee,

I think of the people

with whom I once shared loneliness and love,

farewells and hope.


My first love brushes past my memory.

I remember the mischievous childhood friend

from those carefree, immature days.


I think, too, of the younger companion

with whom I shared a water-soaked handkerchief

amid clouds of tear gas.


Life is always a succession

of exhausting and difficult bends in the road.

Yet if there is even one person

with whom we can share not only warmth,

but even our deepest sorrow

over a quiet cup of tea,

perhaps that alone is enough.


Life is difficult not because there are no people around us,

but because there is no one

who truly understands our hearts.


And suddenly I ask myself:

Am I that one person for someone else?

Am I listening beside another soul in silence?


To understand another person’s heart

is not to offer answers,

but simply to remain beside them.

Only now do I feel

I am beginning to understand that.

   — From Dawn Light Notes by Ki Jun Kwon


Today’s Reflection

★ I pause to ask myself

whether I am the one person

who truly understands someone else’s heart.

No matter how harsh the world may become,

I still dream

of that one person

who understands the heart. ★

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[www.DawnLightLetter.com] 새벽 빛 편지

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