Saudade

An untranslatable word from Portuguese, meaning the love you feel even when somebody is no longer there

Even from thousands of miles away

I can still hear your voice

A birdsong on a warm June day

The things you’d say were gentle

And wise

You always knew how to make me smile.

Two weeks feels like a long time

If you count the seconds

But with you

It was all too short

Days spent in the sun

Nights spent in smiles and laughter

Sitting and watching sunsets

Until the sun set

On us

The dictionary is full of beautiful words

We used them

To write a glorious summer

Bliss

Rapport

Tranquillity

But the dictionary has cruel words as well

Distance

Pining

Grief

And cruellest of all

Goodbye

Two lives separated by two syllables

The teasing, mocking “good”

And then

Thousands of miles later

Bye

The dictionary may be full of words

But the truest word is one that you taught me

Before you I did not know it

But now I understand

Saudade