One Art by Elisabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
How interesting when a poem can look so simple, but have so much meaning.
I love this. The only other villanelle I’ve experienced is Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle….” It is among the handful of poems I’ve memorized, but I think Bishop’s is more interesting and textured. She stretches daringly for her near-rhymes! Thank you for this post.
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That just brought tears to my eyes . I have had a very special relationship with this poem for many years now (first time I heard it was the movie “In Her Shoes” and since then got wedged really deep in my heart. Tugs at every string.
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Yes! Since the first time I read it I’ve loved it as well.
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Thank you! I don’t even know you and I could sincerely hug you ❤
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