SEHNSUCHT
A Work in progress
: A noun with a meaning which is a combination of ‘longing’, ‘pining’ or ‘yearning’, the idea of Sehnsucht is something which can’t be summed up in one word in English. The origin of the word Sehnen is unknown, but there have been many attempts to assign it a definitive definition, including by the famous Grimm Brothers, according to whose own dictionary it means “to grieve, to grasp, to demand something, especially related to the pain and desire of love”.
The sucht part of the word, surprisingly, does not come from the word suchen (to search), but from siech meaning sick.
So, put together, the word Sehnsucht literally means a sickness caused by a yearning desire. (https://www.thelocal.de/)
At Nightfall
He holds my wrist to take
my pulse, tells me my heart is
enlarged, working too hard.
His fingertips listen
to the river of my life, skin
deep, pulsing beneath the surface.
Strong and pounding,
he says. You are
fighting something.
How can I tell him I am
fighting to be here, alive
to every sense, raw and hungry,
angry and open?
I ask him what I should do.
dance more.
become wild. Sleep under the moon.
be silent, still.
In a world like this, how
can one’s heart not be
enlarged, fighting, swollen
with grief and joy,
each day a miracle,
a war.
