Student Publishing Program ::

Jenny R.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia.

A word,
trying to express a desire
to return to a place,
to visit people,
see long-gone friends,
or to regain that object or feeling,
lost and forgotten.
How can one word express all of this?

And yet, even that definition
stifles the real feeling,
compacting it,
trying to fit
the world into
a teacup.
How can any word express
the desire to return to one’s home,
to see long-dead relatives,
far-away friends,
lost books and toys,
the smell of a shirt thrown away long ago.

Even Japanese fails to encompass the meaning,
natsukashii,
nostalgia.
A small improvement,
the shii expresses some longing,
but still leaves the definition floating,
just out of reach.

Some things are impossible to name.

Nostalgia.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2011 EDITION]