The phrase "a certain longing" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to express a specific, often vague, desire or yearning for something.
Example: "As she gazed out at the horizon, she felt a certain longing for the adventures that awaited her."
Alternatives: "a particular yearning" or "a specific desire."
"There's a certain longing in her face, an expression of melancholy.
Ms. Roberts doesn't need to swallow a picture whole with her smile to have an impact: just the sight of her inspires a certain longing.
Someone grieving six months or six years out, they won't stop feeling a certain longing, a yearning, an emptiness, a void, a hole.
For Mr. Croze, the Frenchman, a stroll down Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the popular street of Italian food markets, satisfies a certain longing.
Although most of those who attended clearly felt right at home in Florida, some expressed a certain longing for their old haunts.
But, like Brooklyn before it was cool, or C.B.G.B. before it was a John Varvatos store, the bad old days of early U.C.B. still inspire a certain longing.
They both certainly seem nostalgic for the One Show: it comes up a lot, always with a certain wistful longing.
In this series, I wanted to explore a certain kind of longing".
The two became friends, and Ms. Raij continues to look toward North Carolina with a certain degree of longing.
If you have ever spent any time there, considering Buttermilk Channel from the cusp of Valentino Pier, you understand that Red Hook — with its vast and desolate waterfront, overlooking the Statue of Liberty — is a place that accommodates a certain amount of longing.
It was as if (a) I longed for a certain (heretofore untasted) taste until (b) said longing became nearly unbearable, at which time (c) I found a morsel of food with that exact taste already in my mouth, perfectly satisfying my longing.
