The art of losing isn't hard to master; <br />so many things seem filled with the intent <br />to be lost that their loss is no disaster, <br /> <br />Lose something every day. Accept the fluster <br />of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. <br />The art of losing isn't hard to master. <br /> <br />Then practice losing farther, losing faster: <br />places, and names, and where it was you meant <br />to travel. None of these will bring disaster. <br /> <br />I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or <br />next-to-last, of three loved houses went. <br />The art of losing isn't hard to master. <br /> <br />I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, <br />some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. <br />I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. <br /> <br />- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture <br />I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident <br />the art of losing's not too hard to master <br />though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.<br /><br />Elizabeth Bishop<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/one-art/
