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.

I heard this poem from the movie, "In Her Shoes" which I saw on the plane ride from Manila to Chicago. It's a beautiful movie (sige na nga, chick flick) about two sisters who are opposites of each other in many aspects and yet loved one another in the most dearest way. It stars Cameron Diaz and Toni Collete who was also in the movie, "About a Boy".

Grabe, I cried so much during the movie even when people near me could see me wiping my tears or hear me sniff. Hehe, kebs! We were over the Pacific Ocean at that time and the sun has almost risen. I haven't cried this much since "The Stepmom" which I saw 6 or 7 years ago when I was still in college. Now, I wonder if I was crying over the movie or over something else... Ha,ha! Anyway, I hope to get the DVD copy soon.

-ooo-

Because the movie is about sisterhood, I thought I'd greet my one and only Ati Elaine -- Hello, Ati Elaine! You are my peborit Ati in the whole wide world! Stay cool! :)