Nostalgia
Maybe, like Marcel,
Monsieur Proust,
in Paris, it begins
with a bite
of a madeleine.
Or, like Hemingway,
with a tumbler
of whisky
and a tumbling out
of wistful stories.
Or breathing in
the scent of Autumn
leaves, or the aroma
of baking bread,
a homemade pie,
a Sunday roast.
Or the incense of
fresh-brewed coffee
coiling through
the early morning air.
It might be a song
or a tune
that carries you back
to the days
and arms
of a once-love,
or a deeply felt place,
or a poignant
life-moment.
It could be
a certain look,
a forgotten sound,
the turn of a phrase,
a face you see
in a film
or a crowd.
Touchstones
that touch you
so unexpectedly,
serendipitously;
sweetly to bitter–
sweetly.
Unite you,
longingly, feelingly
with a suddenly
very present
past. And possibly
inspire you
to have newly evocative
experiences.
Maybe making
memories that
somewhere,
sometime
in the future,
become
as deeply
emotional,
sentimental,
lastingly
beautiful.
Colin Goedecke
Westerly-by-the-Sea, Rhode Island
October 2023
the lead poem on Floating Poetry Broadcast #180, on Nostalgia
#longing #memory #nostalgia #remembrance #reminiscing #revisiitng #saudade #sentimental #touchstone #wistful