The art of losing

One Art

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 beloved 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!) a disaster.

 

Amerikansk  kultur er så mykje ikkje berre country musikk og rock(men det og som  Bruce Springsteen og Emylou Harris) . Det er til dømes ein rik poetisk tradisjon i USA, Elisabeth Bishop ( 1911-1979) var ein av dei store poetane på 1900 talet. Ho vart fødd i Worchester, Massachusetts men levde store delar av livet i Sør-Amerika. Poesien til Bishop er visuell og fylt med fint observerte detaljar. Her er eit stort spenn frå det lett humoristiske til det mørke og mysteriøse. Eg fall for diktet  "One Art", det er lett og humoristisk men med ein djupt alvorleg grunn under. "The art of losing" må vi alle øva oss i, vi får tidsnok bruk for den.