wistfulness

wistful | American Dictionary

wistful
adjective
us/ˈwɪst·fəl/
sad and thinking about something that is impossible or past:
She cast a wistful glance at the bridal gowns in the window.

wistfully

adverbus/ˈwɪst·fə·li/
She spoke wistfully of their early years together.

Examples of wistful

wistful
When the tune finally emerges, wistful and lyrical, it's like the embrace of an old friend.
Amid the wafting paragraphs of the finale, the music relaxes for a tellingly wistful passage.
The keyboard also deflects to the submediant at the vocal persona's wistful fermata on 1 at 'becomes' (bar 42).
This is music of prolonged reflection, wistful longing and delicate piquancy.
Its mercurial changes of mood, wistful humour and spontaneity make it ideally accessible, and it is not at all tiring.
But the tone is at times wistful, betraying a rather naive desire that subcultures like hip-hop would simply go away.
His absolutist refusal to countenance any foggy compromises made him alien to a generation of wistful survivors.
Not all the site-specific text is wistful and nostalgic, however.
A particularly important harmony at internal cadences is the dominant ninth, wistful but dispirited after moments of hopeful energy.
But the onward drive drops back for a wistful reverie until the bell-crested orchestra insists again, growing ever more excited under the tumbling, intertwining lines of the soloists.
The undeserved good fortune of others can be borne with a wistful sigh, but their ability to master circumstance and control the course of their lives evokes suspicion and resentment.
I have a sort of wistful regret that policies of that kind were not fully understood or appreciated in this country at the time.
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