Loving someone is a loss of freedom - but one doesn't think of it as loss because one gains so much else.
we need poetry most at those moments when life astounds us with losses, gains, or celebrations. We need it most when we are most hurt, most happy, most downcast, most jubilant. Poetry is the language we speak in times of greatest need. And the fact that it is an endangered species in our culture tells us that we are in deep trouble.
If you've been a pretty woman and always pursued by lovers, losing that and not having that - it feels like a great loss.
