Saudade

Deep emotional nostalgia
is my sustenance,
melancholic longing,
the tune that sets me apart,

absent nouns creating an affair,
are those that rule my being,
and this is saudade,
taught to me by the Portuguese.

Described as "the love that remains"
after an existence is gone,
saudade, is my new relationship,
one that will not desert me.

Saudade is the one thing,
the one person, the one place,
that should be with me, at a particular time,
a particular moment,
in a particular way,
but, is missing;

and the absence is felt in suffering,
with agony,
with bittersweet memories,
with depression from missing;
save joyful gratitude, from the experience.

They say in Portuguese,
Tenho saudade do que fomos;
I feel longing of the way we were,

so it is my word of ever,
it is my word of body,
it is the substance,
of all my memories,

I have chosen,
saudade...



©, Dawn Michelle

Authors Note:

Contest Prompt "What is your favorite word"    saudade poems • portugal poems • love poems • longing poems • nostalgia poems