One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to maser;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something everyday.
Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hours 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 realm 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 isn't hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

-- Elizabeth Bishop