Learn to Lose

Learn to Lose (5th November, 2019).

When you are young, you learn to lose;

misplaced pens, forgotten homework,

an outgrown favourite pair of shoes.

You learn that loss will always hurt.

Then as you grow, the losses grow;

you lose a bet, you are too slow,

perhaps forget a date or two,

and lose the latest ‘me and you’.

As time goes by, the loss explodes;

you lose a job, you crash a car,

you suffer lonely episodes,

and loss becomes an ugly scar.

Too soon you find, the day will come,

when it is time to lose someone,

and rummage in the loss-filled back

of dusty wardrobes for something black.

I lost my health, some time ago,

I lost some friends, and then my heart;

some things are easy to let go,

while some things rip you right apart.

My father’s mind’s a step too far

(the greatest losses always are);

his body I could maybe forgive…

this is no way to watch him live.

I’ve lost the time, the future’s dark,

but I’ve not lost the memories;

he’s taught me losing’s just an art,

that loss can cage, but also frees.

If you are lucky, when you’re young,

you learn to lose and then move on;

to heal the wound, to nurse the bruise,

for it’s a part of life, to lose.

Jennifer Pickup