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 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.
Elizabeth Bishop
Un Arte
El arte de perder no es nunca un lastre;
toda cosa a perderse está marcada
y perderla no es signo de desastre.
Perdemos cada día. No te castre
perder llaves, la hora mal empleada.
El arte de perder no es nunca un lastre.
Practica el perder más, que ello te arrastre:
nombres, lugares, la excursión planeada
pues nada de ello te traerá un desastre.
Perdí el reloj de mamá. ¡Y ve pillastre!:
mi casi última o última morada.
Aprender a perder no es nunca un lastre.
Perdí ciudades, galas de un buen sastre,
reinos que tuve, ríos, tierra amada.
Cosas que extraño, mas no es un desastre.
- Hasta perderte (voz jovial, semblante
que amo). No miento. Es cosa evidenciada:
el arte de perder no es nunca un lastre
aunque parezca (¡escríbelo!) un desastre.
