Mágoa is a Portuguese word for a specific kind of sorrow that lingers in the body even after it has left the mind. Those feeling the emotion of mágoa show their heartbreak in their physical gestures, or in expressions in their face as a matter of a new state of being. The mágoa has soaked through their bodies, and become part of the way that they encounter the world. Every step, every glance becomes mágoa.
What are the signs of mágoa? They are unique to each person who feels mágoa. It might be a halting step for one person, but a twitch in the cheek with every attempt to smile for another, or a telltale turn of the wrist as if to suggest that whatever has just been said may be pointless after all. The manifestation of mágoa is characteristic to the individual, because each person’s sorrow follows its own unique path of pain through the body.
