Around a couple of months ago, I started feeling like I was losing something. The concept felt rather confusing because I was convinced that the “loss” was not even mine to lose! I was not sure why it was being lost, and I was not even sure if I really wanted it to begin with! And even now, I don't have such answers.
Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” kept coming to mind and haunting me. I had strong urges to just post the poem on my blog as an acknowledgement of my “loss”, only a little voice in me kept arguing that there was no real loss, and that if there really was any, it has not yet been lost! Thanks to my short attention span and my wide range of commitments, I ended up forgetting about the whole thing.
In rare moments, I thought of that “loss” and it kinda made me blue because I never really understood why I even considered it much of a loss. Anyways, earlier this month, while talking to a friend, I realized that whatever my “loss” was, I was ok with the term and more importantly, I was ok with the fact that it was no longer there. I found myself accepting and moving on, and it felt good.
Today, something very small and insignificant happened that reminded me of all that. As minor as it was, it was a sign that accepting and moving on were the right things to do and that losing things is not always that bad, even if it feels that way at some point. And in that spirit, I decided to post the poem from my new perspective.
To losing…
One Art
By Elizabeth 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.
By Elizabeth 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.
14 comments:
Okay, so I'm googling the poem after hearing it on TV in "In her Shoes" and I get your blog! Great pick as always!
yeah i just found out "in her shoes" was playing!! i must be psychic to have posted in hours before!!
anyway, adeeny wafart 3aleeky ennek teroo7y website ghareeb, 3al 2a2al hena el makan zay beitek :D
you lose to gain something in return!
داخلة اقولك الله اكبر عالتليباثي وريحتيني من الجوجلة عليها بعد ما سمعتها في الفيلم لقيتهم قالولك
قولت اقولك انا كمان
:)))
it's perfect
heheh this is funny.
We just read this in my creative writing course. It's an amazing poem with a sad truth to it.
I loved it!
vile,
i think i agree, problem is, sometimes ur too upset about the loss to notice and appreciate whatever it is you have gained!
welcome.
rivendell**
ay khedma :)
silent observer :)
then you must have went by each stanza and how it was built up with regard to the whole structure... every time i read it, i can't help but admire the way it was written...
Very Nice Poem Indeed, But I bet you already know what I think :D:D
do i??
Very intense... I like it a lot.
if you're talking about the poem, i think the whole poem is rather mellow, until the last stanza, you'd start noticing how it was built up and how intense the emotions are reflecting the pain over the loss...
i just like how this poem is filled with pretense that there is no pain when it's evident at the end that there is too much of it...
I LOVE that poem, though it opposes my "cheerful" nature :)
Why do I get a weird feeling when I hear the sentence "moving on" ?!!
well, a7eb attamenak 3ala nafsak, it's not a cheerful poem, so your "cheerful" is well preserved :))
it's just the mellow kind of sad, the more accepting kind, without the anger and the resentfulness... i think you're angry nature is at risk here if you like that poem, i know i lost my anger a while back, so is it time for you (hehe *wicked smiley*)
as for why you feel weird when you hear the sentence "moving on", it could be because you're so hung up over something, either consciously or subconsciously... anyways, moving on is such a hard hard task, and i don't think it is something you force urself to do, it either happens naturally, or it just doesn't!
wyareetek matkalemty..!
Damn,..
fe 7agat ana 3arefha bas maba7ebesh asma3ha,...!
It's so hard to lose anger. It's like losing ur inner wild engine!
How did u manage to live without it?!
well, i needed to lose the anger, at least when it comes to certain things... being angry all the time is too consuming especially when u have too much to be angry about...
if it's any consolation, i have not completely lost it; i feel it frequently enough, only i think i learned how to contain it and shake it off before it gets to me further...
it shows in short term provocative matters, however, my physical reaction to it is different, i kind of stutter when i start getting too angry or yell at someone, and i noticed my arms and legs start shaking hysterically!! what can i say, i have it so darn deep in my genes i can't get rid of it without having some counter symptoms or whatever it's called!!
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