Not in English, where feelings fit neatly into boxes. Not in the language we used to order coffee or argue about rent. But in Georgian — raw, ancient, stubborn — where love is not just love but sikvaruli , a word that bends with suffixes like a vine heavy with grapes. Where “I miss you” is not direct, but circled through verbs and cases, like a prayer you learn by heart without understanding.
Here’s a short, emotional blog post titled — written in English but infused with Georgian phrasing and sentiment. Dear Ex, qartulad I never thought I’d write to you again. But tonight, Tbilisi is wrapped in that familiar fog, and the lights on Mtatsminda blink like unspoken words. So here I am — speaking to you qartulad . dear ex qartulad
Because some loves are like that. You don’t speak them — they speak through you. And even after the person leaves, the language stays. A ghost grammar. A motherland with no return visa. Not in English, where feelings fit neatly into boxes
ნახვამდის, ჩემო კარგო. Until I see you again, my good one. Where “I miss you” is not direct, but
So I’m writing this letter in the language you spoke in your sleep. The language your grandmother used when she cursed and blessed in the same breath. The language that holds three words for “morning” depending on how light touches the mountains.
Qartulad means: I don’t just miss you. I feel your absence in the grammar of my days. Every morning without you is a sentence without a verb. Every night, a story left unfinished.