101 Poems, Number 53

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

53: “One Art,” 1976, by Elizabeth Bishop (1911–79)

“The art of losing”—so begins

This poem so concerned with loss—

No clichéd sighs—no violins—

Nor mawkishness. Nor verbal dross.

A speaker tells of losing—how

We lose throughout our lives on earth—

And we must deal with pain—and now

We know that it’s been true since birth.

I love the final line of this—

Inside parentheses, her pain—

The loss of one she’ll dearly miss—

And cannot hope to see again.

Link to poem.