Saudade is one of those inexpressible words, Portuguese in this case. The clearest meaning or definition I can come up with is  'melancholic nostalgia' or the like. This is my attempt to take that thought one step further.

The poem is best read by first reading the non-italicised stanzas, followed by the italicised ones.

 

Saudade

 

Proteus, Old Man of the Sea,

Neptune's shepherd of the seal,

has Homer not saluted your alchemy?

Awake, oracle - reveal your prophecy.

 

. . . when I was twenty-four years old

my mother left me. I was cold

with grief; now the warmth of her sun

shines on life's wearying race, now near won . . .

 

Your form is liquid, wise and pagan;

foretell the future, fleet-footed maven,

for this is your destiny. No guise of lion,

serpent, leopard could slip Orion,

 

. . . will old England disappoint, prove

a darker plain of strangers; or move

the spirit to uneasy heights of vertigo:

at forty years a man's too young to know . . .

 

- or his hunter's sword. Be warned:

I will not be disdained or scorned,

nor seek the savage fate of my brother,

brave, brave Agamemnon. Discover

 

. . . when I was a little child

I saw the seabirds flock, wild

and swooping on the shore;

I can see them no more . . .

 

- how Menelaus holds you firm,

be you water or tree; squirm

as you may, I will have my say.

Speak, Proteus, then send me on my way.

 

Chris Hubbard

2017