One Art

John is losing teeth! It is true. And going along with it, here is one of my favorite poems. It talks about losing things, so I feel it is appropriate. With this new development in John's life I feel like I am losing something too. But it is an art that I too need to master and as John grows he will also have to deal with it too. It is more then just losing teeth. It is a universal theme to us all. Tragic, good and beautiful.

 

 One Art

-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.