--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am learning to abandon the world before…" description: "\"“I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me. Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/linda-pastan-28836_every-night_i-am-learning-to-abandon-the-world-befor_1916216.jpg" --- # I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon… ![“I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me. Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white. And the world has taken my father, my friends. I have given up melodic lines of hills, moving to a flat, tuneless landscape. And every night I give…” quote by Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/linda-pastan-28836_every-night_i-am-learning-to-abandon-the-world-befor_1916216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/linda-pastan-28836_every-night_i-am-learning-to-abandon-the-world-befor_1916216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/linda-pastan-28836_every-night_i-am-learning-to-abandon-the-world-befor_1916216.jpg) > ““I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me. Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white. And the world has taken my father, my friends. I have given up melodic lines of hills, moving to a flat, tuneless landscape. And every night I give my body up limb by limb, working upwards across bone, towards the heart. But morning comes with small reprieves of coffee and birdsong. A tree outside the window which was simply shadow moments ago takes back its branches twig by leafy twig. And as I take my body back the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap as if to make amends.”” [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poet describes surrendering to loss and finding small daily comforts that restore humanity **In simple terms:** Giving up everything, then finding healing in simple moments Key Takeaway Notice tiny joys to recover from grief Themes grief healing resilience Mood somber reflective Type poetic inspirational When to use this quote - coping with loss - daily meditation - finding hope after trauma - appreciating nature Key Concepts Existential surrender mindfulness Questions to Reflect On - What small comfort can you hold onto now? - How does nature aid emotional recovery? A Different Perspective The metaphor of abandoning the moon may seem extreme and alienating ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Every night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-night/) ## Related quotes > [The refutation of suicide: is it not inelegant to abandon a world which has so willingly put itself at the service of our melancholy?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/the-refutation-of-suicide-is-it-not-inelegant-to-abandon-a-world/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [Let me ask you, if Bannon leaves the White House, he resigns or is fired, and then starts and goes back to Breitbart or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/let-me-ask-you-if-bannon-leaves-the-white-house-he-resigns-or-is/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Sex is not the ultimate high, but the ultimate high hangs out around sex. The ultimate high is the dance with another person, played…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/sex-is-not-the-ultimate-high-but-the-ultimate-high-hangs-out-around/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [“Don't give up because things are hard, but work harder, when you think of giving up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/don-t-give-up-because-things-are-hard-but-work-harder-when-you-think/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/do-not-lose-hope-st-joseph-also-experienced-moments-of-difficulty-but/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Every great thing starts with an idea, followed by a doubt and finally a resolve to abandon or pursue. Victory is a treacherous journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/every-great-thing-starts-with-an-idea-followed-by-a-doubt-and-finally/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/can-you-dissolve-your-ego-can-you-abandon-the-idea-of-self-and-other/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/) [Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/) > [When we fall utterly, something gathers us up. But our falling must be without reservation, without expectation, without hope, though not hopeless. You cant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-housden/when-we-fall-utterly-something-gathers-us-up-but-our-falling-must-be/) [Roger Housden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-housden/) > [I would leave at once, but it would be cruel to abandon a lady in a foreign land with a maniac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-would-leave-at-once-but-it-would-be-cruel-to-abandon-a-lady-in-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [However, however, if the goal is to abandon America's free enterprise economy, if the goal is to convert America into a submissive member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/however-however-if-the-goal-is-to-abandon-america-s-free-enterprise/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [The purpose of a spirit filled life is to demonstrate the supernatural power of our living God so that the unsaved multitudes will abandon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-l-osborn/the-purpose-of-a-spirit-filled-life-is-to-demonstrate-the/) [T.L. Osborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-l-osborn/) > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) Kenan Malik ## More by Linda Pastan > [I regret the way pain has taught me nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/i-regret-the-way-pain-has-taught-me-nothing/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [Poetry is not a code to be broken but a way of seeing with the eyes shut.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/poetry-is-not-a-code-to-be-broken-but-a-way-of-seeing-with-the-eyes/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [“Despite the enormous evening sky spreading over most of the canvas, its moon no more than a tarnished coin, dull and flat, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/despite-the-enormous-evening-sky-spreading-over-most-of-the-canvas/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [Evil is simply a grammatical error: a failure to leap the precipice between "he" and "I.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/evil-is-simply-a-grammatical-error-a-failure-to-leap-the-precipice/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [What we want is never simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/what-we-want-is-never-simple/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [I am tired of the litany of months, September October I am tired of the way the seasons keep changing, mimicking the seasons of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/i-am-tired-of-the-litany-of-months-september-october-i-am-tired-of/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [Spring is the shortest season.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/spring-is-the-shortest-season/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [I made a list of things I have to remember and a list of things I want to forget, but I see they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/i-made-a-list-of-things-i-have-to-remember-and-a-list-of-things-i/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [“I'm only leaving you for a handful of days, but it feels as though I'll be gone forever—- the way the door closes behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/i-m-only-leaving-you-for-a-handful-of-days-but-it-feels-as-though-i/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [There are poems that are never written, that simply move across the mind like skywriting on a still day: slowly the first word drifts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/there-are-poems-that-are-never-written-that-simply-move-across-the/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [What we want is never simple. We move among the things we thought we wanted: a face, a room, an open book and these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/what-we-want-is-never-simple-we-move-among-the-things-we-thought-we/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [I have dreamed of our bed as if it were a shore where we would be washed up, not this striped mattress we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/i-have-dreamed-of-our-bed-as-if-it-were-a-shore-where-we-would-be/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [Grief is a circular staircase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/grief-is-a-circular-staircase/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [Just looking at them I grow greedy, as if they were freshly baked loaves waiting on their shelves to be broken open--that one and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/just-looking-at-them-i-grow-greedy-as-if-they-were-freshly-baked/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) > [“Because the night you asked me, the small scar of the quarter moon had healed - the moon was whole again; because life seemed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-pastan/because-the-night-you-asked-me-the-small-scar-of-the-quarter-moon-had/) [Linda Pastan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) [Explore all 19 Linda Pastan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-pastan/) ## More Abandon quotes > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. To insist that science, or God, objectively defines moral values is to abandon our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenan-malik/humans-are-as-sartre-put-it-condemned-to-be-free-to-insist-that/) Kenan Malik > [The purpose of a spirit filled life is to demonstrate the supernatural power of our living God so that the unsaved multitudes will abandon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-l-osborn/the-purpose-of-a-spirit-filled-life-is-to-demonstrate-the/) [T.L. Osborn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-l-osborn/) > [However, however, if the goal is to abandon America's free enterprise economy, if the goal is to convert America into a submissive member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-rubio/however-however-if-the-goal-is-to-abandon-america-s-free-enterprise/) [Marco Rubio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-rubio/) > [I would leave at once, but it would be cruel to abandon a lady in a foreign land with a maniac.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/i-would-leave-at-once-but-it-would-be-cruel-to-abandon-a-lady-in-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [When we fall utterly, something gathers us up. But our falling must be without reservation, without expectation, without hope, though not hopeless. You cant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-housden/when-we-fall-utterly-something-gathers-us-up-but-our-falling-must-be/) [Roger Housden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-housden/) > [every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/) [Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/) > [Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laozi/can-you-dissolve-your-ego-can-you-abandon-the-idea-of-self-and-other/) [Laozi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laozi/) > [Every great thing starts with an idea, followed by a doubt and finally a resolve to abandon or pursue. Victory is a treacherous journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/every-great-thing-starts-with-an-idea-followed-by-a-doubt-and-finally/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/do-not-lose-hope-st-joseph-also-experienced-moments-of-difficulty-but/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Don't give up because things are hard, but work harder, when you think of giving up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-liccione/don-t-give-up-because-things-are-hard-but-work-harder-when-you-think/) [Anthony Liccione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-liccione/) > [Sex is not the ultimate high, but the ultimate high hangs out around sex. The ultimate high is the dance with another person, played…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/sex-is-not-the-ultimate-high-but-the-ultimate-high-hangs-out-around/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [I care so deeply about this matter that I'm willing to take on the legal penalties, to sit in this prison cell, to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-care-so-deeply-about-this-matter-that-i-m-willing-to-take-on-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I've been to unpretty places with the roles I've played, and I'm attracted to reckless abandon. I like being taken to the edge of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhys-ifans/i-ve-been-to-unpretty-places-with-the-roles-i-ve-played-and-i-m/) [Rhys Ifans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhys-ifans/) Browse all 1,142 Abandon quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me. Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white. And the world has taken my father, my friends. I have given up melodic lines of hills, moving to a flat, tuneless landscape. And every night I give my body up limb by limb, working upwards across bone, towards the heart. But morning comes with small reprieves of coffee and birdsong. A tree outside the window which was simply shadow moments ago takes back its branches twig by leafy twig. 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