Say Goodbye!

CREATIVE Feature

To start off our HIRAETH section, we're including a piece by Abigail Gill, 17 yrs. This month's C&C submissions prompt was the following:

“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.

It’s a homesickness for the places from your past you can’t return to or even those you’ve never been to. Hiraeth can also mean nostalgia for your past self, the people who are long gone, or the emotions you used to feel.” (Read more here.)

Where do you feel hiraeth? Craft a poem, essay, or fiction piece in which a microcosm is defined by hiraeth, and how it contributes to the overall human experience.

"This is a poem about growing up and leaving behind my grandma’s house that holds a lot of my childhood memories...I meant it as a lament but also as acceptance of moving on."

"Say Goodbye!"

Written by Abigail Gill, 17 yrs

“Goodbye? Oh no, please. Can’t we just go back to page one and start all over again?” 

-Winnie the Pooh

Chapter One:

When I was little, I would lay on the couch 

And count the dark wooden beams 

That ran along the ceiling.

The porch was always cold

And full of splinters and dead ladybugs.

My grandma’s bedroom was off limits.

Whenever I caught a glimpse of it,

It always had an eerie, dusty aura.

One summer we built a clubhouse

In the thicket at the edge of the field.

We carried the wood there ourselves

And sawed it into pieces.

Say Goodbye!

My mom said,

And we hugged our aunts and uncles.

Our cousins chased our car as we drove away.

Chapter Two:

I fear the day in the not so distant future

That I drive away from that place for the last time.

I make a mark of every last.

Last Thanksgiving,

Last Christmas,

Say Goodbye.

I would do it all again if I could.

Visits used to be the source of my excitement, and 

Now they’re only a reminder that we have to say goodbye.

When we finally leave it behind, 

I know I’ll cry every time

I hear a train whistle 

Or drive through 

A corn field.

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C&C Submissions for the July HIRAETH prompt will still be accepted until August 1st, and will be featured on our September edition if accepted. Submit here.

IMG Credits: On.Landscape