Hiraeth

( · Hiraeth is an untranslatable Welsh word that describes a longing for a home, a place, or a feeling that no longer exists or never existed.)

To move to a new place was a choice I had made

I don’t often think about an alternative life had I stayed

I am quite certain I would remain where I am now

Going back is not something my circumstances would ever allow

I have assimilated well, I am now a part

Of the new culture, but there is a piece of my heart

That still belongs there, my original home

And that no matter how far I roam

I stumble upon things that remind me

Of my homeland, and a wave of nostalgia sweeps over me…

*

It could be a familiar aroma, a song or a cultural reference

That invokes Hiraeth, a melancholy feeling intense

There is a bittersweet taste of loss difficult to define

A longing for the place I can no longer find

Because the home I left is not the same now

It lies frozen in time in my dreams somehow

*

I shake myself, and try to get back to the present

To exit the meandering lanes of nostalgia is my intent

I am successful until another stimulus appears before me

And my Hiraeth for home comes back instantly..