Saudade

Ah, I remember learning of the Portuguese word & human emotion, "saudade," and, more recently, the Welsh word, "hiraeth," for a similar emotion akin to nostalgia. Saudade is a sort of longing for an absent someone or a missing something, that maybe no longer exists at all, or never did...  Hiraeth is sort of a homesickness for a home that no longer exists, or perhaps never did... See how they are like nostalgia? And see how they are linked by melancholy longing? And you know I am of a melancholy nature! And that I love words.

Anyway, I used both words in this review of Darling Hands, Darling Tongue, by Sally Rosen Kindred, a chapbook that revisits Neverland and its inhabitants and visitors, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, Wendy and her brothers, and the Lost Boys.

Here is another "lost boy," missing Naples in Saudades de Nápoles, by Bertha Worms. (And above is Saudade, by Almeida Júnior.) And did you know there are a jillion movies called Saudade, or with "saudade" in the title, at IMDb? One is a Japanese comedy! Thank goodness for Netflix. And for Wikipedia, the Google Art Project, and the public domain. 

There's so much to learn, I don't even know what I'm missing!