and then there’s
One Art
Elizabeth Bishop, 1911 - 1979
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.
On Nov 12, 2014, at 11:53 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Ha indeed, L. Trust DA. Biroid! Wonderful.
>
> B
>
>
>
>> On 12 Nov 2014, at 10:09 pm, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Ha. There's a remark somewhere in Douglas Adams that biros escape to a
>> place where they can have a more fulfilling biroid kind of life. I quote
>> badly, but that's the force of it, more or less L
>>
>> On 12 November 2014 09:11, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> LOST
>>>
>>> when things
>>> are lost
>>> keys -biros
>>> pens purses
>>> and other
>>> small things
>>> it is better
>>> not to look
>>> look for them
>>> not at once
>>> for they
>>> may need
>>> to feel
>>> feel lost
>>> feel space
>>> for a while
>>> then later
>>> suddenly
>>> they happily
>>> reappear
>>> returned!
>>>
>>>
>>> pmcmanus
>>> r636
>>
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