Saudade Poem by Linda Marie Van Tassell

Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return.One English translation of the word is missingness. Stronger forms of saudade might be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing, moved away, separated, or died. (pronounced Sow da dae)

I got carried away by the wind,
and my fingers brushed eternity.
I stood unveiled, naked, and fair-skinned;
and I just wanted you to want me.

With a quill of wind and morning dew
among soft leaves slumbering serene,
I wrote a love poem just for you
in a summer dress of evergreen.

You gently let down my braided hair
and let the ringlets in silence fall.
Your breath a psalm, a hopeful prayer,
a moonlight melody to recall.

I closed my eyes as you touched my face.
Your touch was O! ever so tender!
A whisper of words, the gift of grace,
and an evensong of surrender.

When the passion sailed into the blue,
I cast a pebble into the sea.
It fell in love as I fell in you
as you fell deeply in love with me.

I watched you come, and I watched you go.
You entered my life only to part,
and still you linger like lamplight's glow
in the shuttered darkness of my heart.

I am surrounded by memories,
scattered like ashes upon a page,
and wrap myself with the best of these
as I look back and grow old with age.

A flower's breath blooms in want of you.
She was so lovely back in the spring.
I wait for you as I always do
invoking a dream on gentle wing.