hiraeth

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Susan L Daniels

Uncountable longing
translated to snow
and expressed in lightness

immeasurable while falling
but building
to impossible depth

once snow strikes snow

About Susan L Daniels

I am a firm believer that politics are personal, that faith is expressed through action, and that life is something that must be loved and lived authentically--or why bother with any of it?
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26 Responses to hiraeth

  1. Polly Robinson says:
    January 24, 2013 at 10:22 am

    I wasn’t familiar with ‘hiraeth’ so looked it up and to my amazement and delight I find it’s a Welsh word (my mum and dad were Welsh) and here is a delightful definition: ‘Hiraeth is in the mountains where the wind speaks in many tongues and the buzzards fly on silent wings. It’s the call of my spiritual home, it’s where ancient peoples made their home. We’re high on a hill, where saints bathed sore feet in a healing spring and had a cure.’

    I love that you’ve made a poem that inspired me to look up the word ~ thank you so much Susan 🙂

    • Susan L Daniels says:
      January 24, 2013 at 10:24 am

      Polly, my pleasure. And, think of it–a Nigerian poet’s work made me think of that Welsh word. Love the Internet. It fits closest to the sentiment expressed in saudade in Portuguese, too 😉

      • Polly Robinson says:
        January 24, 2013 at 10:55 am

        It’s amazing what you can find out just with a little research on t’internet … I was delighted with your poem and ‘hiraeth’ and know my parents would have been too.

  2. dreamsoftwilight says:
    January 24, 2013 at 10:34 am

    You can hear a song called Hiraeth here…http://www.soramusic.ca/scorpion_moon/

    Love that word.

  3. dreamsoftwilight says:
    January 24, 2013 at 10:35 am

    You can hear a song called Hiraeth here: http://www.soramusic.ca/scorpion_moon/

    Love that word 🙂

  4. readinpleasure says:
    January 24, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Very nice. And I’ve learnt a new word. 🙂

  5. Rhonda says:
    January 24, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    You were right sfam. stunning and just what i needed. thank you. both are beautiful.

  6. Noel Ihebuzor says:
    January 24, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    you convey it so well – this sense of a longing that grows and grows!

  7. archcardinal says:
    January 24, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    And it strikes deep… Like the layers of the soul. Beyond longing, steeped in reaching. Every layer, a profound story and a beginning…. I love the simplicity Sussie…

  8. claudia says:
    January 24, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    Uncountable longing
    translated to snow….i like…so much can be translated into snow…

  9. jmgoyder says:
    January 24, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    Will you stop using words I have to look up! hahahaha

    • Susan L Daniels says:
      January 24, 2013 at 9:59 pm

      🙂 I WILL, but oh, we so need a word meaning this in English. Did you listen to the song posted in the comments? It is gorgeous and explains hiraeth so much better than any stodgy dictionary could.

  10. mobius faith says:
    January 25, 2013 at 10:38 am

    Really love this poem Susan. The “immeasurable…impossible” section so perfectly describes the human experience of making mistakes. When the mistake is actually taking place it is immeasurable because we still have not learned. But after we have landed and reassessed that experience the knowledge we have gained is impossible to place a value on. Thanks for this poem – it stimulated my thinking.

  11. ruleofstupid says:
    January 25, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    This is a perfect little crystal of poetry 🙂

  12. nelle says:
    January 26, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    Each flake an encounter?

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