
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.
Elizabeth Bishop, 4 de novembro de 1975
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.
Elizabeth Bishop, 4 de novembro de 1975
Poema na voz da atriz Blythe Danner, com um vídeo com alguns dos lugares onde a poeta viveu no Brasil. Esse video é o final de um programa de uma hora, One Art, sobre a poeta. Mas para ver o programa todo, que é ótimo, antes inscreva-se no site www.learner.org. A inscrição é gratuita.
Eu, particularmente, acho que poesia é uma coisa intraduzível. Como traduzir a música, o som das palavras, a maneira como elas se encadeiam e soam? Mas, para quem quiser, e como um exemplo de como as traduções são tantas, e tão díspares, quanto forem os tradutores, vocês poderão encontrar duas "versões" deste poema de Bishop nos comentários.

