THIS blog is about my favourite word: saudade.

Saudade is a Portuguese word that has no immediate translation in any other language. But I’ll try.

Imagine those childhood summer beach trips to Hawke’s Bay – you on your way home – the day done; cars full of cousins; shoes full of sand and sun and spray.

Or the haunted house at the end of the lane where your gang hung out every winter in front of a small, warm fire, late into the night.

Or those nights you spent alone on the roof, staring up at the stars, wondering where tomorrow would lead…

Saudade is that wistful nostalgia for something, someone, somewhen that can never be again. For old loves, old friends, old selves; gone now forever.

This blog is an attempt to capture those moments. For before we know it we, too, will walk on to a wisdom that eludes us. But before that, we will live and we will love and this, here, is proof that though our lives are but a blink of Kronos’ eyes, there are moments when we outshine the stars.

For more on why I write, click here. 

For a music break, click here.

And click here for lighthouses.