A few weeks ago I got a tattoo, pretty much randomly. Its a heart shaped lock and my favorite word. A lot of people ask me what it means and its hard to describe. Saudade (a word in Portuguese) is pronounced "Sow-daw-gee". Its a feeling that is essential to Brazilian culture. You might say, "tenho saudades de voce". Which means I feel saudade for you.
I suppose a simple definition would be that it is a feeling of longing for something that is gone, which may or may not return in the future.
What is great about saudade is that it has so many layers of complexity and its meaning changes based on the context of the situation. I like that it has no direct translation to English because feelings shouldn't be easily described in words.
Saudade can be a simple, "I miss you" but it has the capability to go much further. The difference between the English word nostalgia and the Brazilian saudade? Nostalgia solely exists in the past and has a fatalistic tone. Saudade is living and breathing, a creature residing in the depths of your heart and soul. It permiates every thought, every fibre of your being. It pulsates love, regret, longing, hope, sadness, and happiness. Until even the tiniest parts of you are screaming like a child that wants his favorite toy back.
Saudade does not listen to reason, when everything logical says that you have lost what you love most it carries on with an idealistic belief that what is being longed for might return. Even in the worst case senario it is a rush of sadness coupled with joy derived from acceptance of fate. The hope of recovering or substituting what is lost with something that will either fill the void or provide consolation.
We cling to the joy in our lives but nothing is perminent. Our greatest loves, our most treasured moments, are eventually stolen from white knuckled hands. I hear a lot of people say that they want to be happy someday. As if they will one day arrive at destination "happiness". How can this be possible? Life seems to be filled with varying degrees of pain and boredom punctuated by enchanting moments to be treasured. I believe that making the best out of the shitty situations and recognizing opportunities will bear more blissful memories to look back on and feel bittersweet saudade for.
I suppose a simple definition would be that it is a feeling of longing for something that is gone, which may or may not return in the future.
What is great about saudade is that it has so many layers of complexity and its meaning changes based on the context of the situation. I like that it has no direct translation to English because feelings shouldn't be easily described in words.
Saudade can be a simple, "I miss you" but it has the capability to go much further. The difference between the English word nostalgia and the Brazilian saudade? Nostalgia solely exists in the past and has a fatalistic tone. Saudade is living and breathing, a creature residing in the depths of your heart and soul. It permiates every thought, every fibre of your being. It pulsates love, regret, longing, hope, sadness, and happiness. Until even the tiniest parts of you are screaming like a child that wants his favorite toy back.
Saudade does not listen to reason, when everything logical says that you have lost what you love most it carries on with an idealistic belief that what is being longed for might return. Even in the worst case senario it is a rush of sadness coupled with joy derived from acceptance of fate. The hope of recovering or substituting what is lost with something that will either fill the void or provide consolation.
We cling to the joy in our lives but nothing is perminent. Our greatest loves, our most treasured moments, are eventually stolen from white knuckled hands. I hear a lot of people say that they want to be happy someday. As if they will one day arrive at destination "happiness". How can this be possible? Life seems to be filled with varying degrees of pain and boredom punctuated by enchanting moments to be treasured. I believe that making the best out of the shitty situations and recognizing opportunities will bear more blissful memories to look back on and feel bittersweet saudade for.
Last spring I was whining to my friend Angela about never having had what I would consider a "real adult relationship." She wasted no time in taking full advantage of the opportunity to shine a mirror on my complexities. Which pissed me off. I wanted to be simple, straight forward, hopefully hiding the big ball of gooey sappiness that resides at my core. I didn't want to hear about the duality of goofy topnotes that mask a truely serious person who "will not fall hard until someone takes the time to understand her depths". And I wonder, who is this person who would want to deal with my reflective BS? Which reminds me of the embarassingly romatic poem I wrote in Forteleza on the beach two years ago.
Be patient,
Right now you are nameless
But I know you nonetheless
One day I will let you cradle my heart
Gentle like a new born baby
And I will put you in my pocket
Like a favorite word collected for my verbose text
And you will become intimately common
My beloved colloquialism
Right now you are nameless
But I know you nonetheless
One day I will let you cradle my heart
Gentle like a new born baby
And I will put you in my pocket
Like a favorite word collected for my verbose text
And you will become intimately common
My beloved colloquialism
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