the gentle sadness of things

you see something, and it feels sad.
something shifts.
time bends slightly.
an old frequency comes through.

no story. no judgment.
just a moment that doesn’t fully belong to now.

the body registers it before the mind does.
not grief. not nostalgia.
something quieter.
a soft ache where meaning used to live.

物の哀れ (mono no aware) isn’t about memory.
it’s about recognition.
when something beautiful stops being common
and becomes rare.

it passes quickly, but it leaves a mark.
and that mark becomes a signal.
and sometimes that signal becomes a reason to begin.