Language of Absolutes
The language of longing is not lack
but misperception/misunderstanding.
Sehnzucht.
Saudade.
Hiraeth.
Toska.
Dor.
Tragically beautiful ideas.
Complex meanings
that do not, cannot,
translate entirety.
And that, in itself,
is beautiful as well.
In Arabic, we say:
Ya’aburnee
and it literally means
you bury me—
the thought of them–
dying before you–
an impossible thing
to bear.
The language of longing is not lack
but, rather, recognition
of absolute,
uncontainable
Fullness.
11 thoughts on "Language of Absolutes"
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Two. Seconds. Too late.
I blame my mom for her talking 😭🤣💔
To which she responded with “the bird” 🤣🤣🤣
Really enjoyed this !
Thank you, Linda ❤️
This poem is so interesting. Thank you for teaching me Ya’aburnee.
Thank you, Jeremy.
In Levantine dialect, the Q sound (second letter) is glottal. So it sounds more like tukbrnee. Here’s how you write it:
تُقبرني
I love how you always bring poems full circle, no matter where you wander!
Thank you, Sylvia ☺️
It’s the lyric essayist in me 😅
Deceptively short because its dense in thought. I leave it contemplative and meditative with questions I have to think about. Love ‘and it literally means/you bury me—” Shew!
you show how sometimes
we have to step out
of (our own) language
to find meaning
Love how “The language of longing is not lack” couplet is repeated with a different second line. Lovely.