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.

(BISHOP,Elizabeth. 1977)

Sentimentalidades

"... tinha suspirado,
tinha beijado o papel devotamente!
Era a primeira vez que lhe escreviam aquelas sentimentalidades,
e o seu orgulho dilatava-se ao calor amoroso que saía delas,
como um corpo ressequido que se estira num banho tépido;
sentia um acréscimo de estima por si mesma,
e parecia-lhe que entrava enfim numa existência superiormente interessante,
onde cada hora tinha o seu encanto diferente,
cada passo condizia a um êxtase,
e a alma se cobria de um luxo radioso de sensações!"

Eça de Queirós, Primo Basílio.