One Art

Here's the poem I mentioned in my previous post that was read in the movie IN HER SHOES. For me, this is a very penetrating poem. Read it outloud several times and it will probably hit you. Or, maybe it's just me because of some relational loses I've had; it really has an emotional impact upon me.

ONE ART

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with 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.

--Elizabeth Bishop