Poetry@ In Her Shoes - 2

This is in continuation with earlier post. When Maggie is at community center, an old blind fellow asks her to read something for him.. and she reads the following poem:

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.

-Elizabeth Bishop

I liked it for the simplicity of its basic theme, for the truth it holds within its heart. Its not too difficult to cope up with any loss. I think all the losses are manageable. Its just a matter of getting used to the loss, accepting the facts, coming to terms with the situation.. At first there will be a pinch (or may be a spoonful) of salt, but eventually you'll be okay.

PS: This pattern of writing poems with stuff in brackets is still amusing me.