One of my favorite pieces from the Bardenklänge (‘Bardic Sounds’) Op. 13 – a collection 25 character pieces by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856). This is piece No. 12 entitled, “Sehnsucht.” Sehnsucht is a German noun translated as “longing”, “desire”, or “yearning”. Some psychologists use the word to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for what is truly real.

C.S. Lewis articulated often in his writings a nostalgic spiritual longing we can recognize as Sehnsucht: yearning, a desire, a feeling “that certain images in our experience can act as relays for a numinous reality both in and beyond them.”

“Sehnsucht is a longing for an object that can never be achieved in this world; it is, as Lewis says, an “old ache, the desire for our own far-off country.” (The Weight of Glory, p.12)