From "Uno Apprende" to "After A While"

(image credit)

I stumbled onto this poem on Google+, and was not only moved but also piqued.  So I Googled the poet's name.  The fact that I had difficult finding out anything about her was the first tipoff that something was wrong with this picture.  I did manage to find this, though:

Veronica Shoffstall

Then, this:

I was reading the Gene Wilder autobio (don't ask) and this poem is in it.. but I can't find out anything more.. I'm not even sure it may just be shit, but obviously it touched something.. does anyone know anything about her?

Reference: Veronica A Shoffstall - poet? who she?

The first reply to Paul Hackett's query was:

I think it's a translation of a poem by Jorge Luis Borges.

The poem has apparently had various titles, so another reader asked: Does anyone know the author of Comes The Dawn?

My mother gave me a beuatiful poems many years ago, but the author is not noted. The poem is titled...Comes The Dawn....

Most search engines have brought about reqest for the author, but not a title or word reference. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

To which someone replied quickly:

Veronica A. Shoffstall
from 1971
the title is After a while

I got this email from Veronica, years ago,
who was kind enough to answer me,
as I wanted to know whether the title was 'Comes dawn'-
as quote often it is quoted as such :

Hi Ilza,
I never titled it "Comes the Dawn" -
- that was something it picked up along the way.
I never WOULD have given it such a pretentious, flatulent title.
In fact, I never titled it at all,
but because I had to for registration purposes
( and also to combat all the bogus titles it has been given by others:
"Comes the Dawn", "Endurance", I can't even remember them all),
I call it "After a While".
But titles are not copyrighted,
so I can't really prevent people from calling it whatever they like,
and since it was published in the Ann Landers column as
"Comes the Dawn",
it's hard to get people to stop calling it that.

Ronnie

Ronnie is a nickname for Veronica.

Uno aprende 

Después de un tiempo, uno aprende la sutil diferencia
entre sostener una mano y encadenar un alma;
Y uno aprende que el amor no significa acostarse
y que la compañía no significa seguridad;
Y uno empieza a aprender que los besos no son contratos
y los regalos no son promesas;
Y uno empieza a aceptar sus derrotas con la cabeza alta y los ojos abiertos;
Y uno aprende a construir todos sus caminos en el hoy,
porque el terreno de mañana es demasiado incierto para planes
y los futuros tienen una forma de caerse en la mitad.
Y después de un tiempo uno aprende que si es demasiado
hasta el calorcito del sol quema.
Así que uno planta su propio jardín y decora su propia alma,
en lugar de esperar a que alguien le traiga flores.
Y uno aprende que realmente uno puede aguantar,
que uno realmente es fuerte,
que uno realmente vale,
y uno aprende y aprende…

y con cada día uno aprende.

Uno Apprende (literally, One Learns) is the poem by Jorge Luis Borjes, the Argentine writer, poet and translator.  From what Spanish I know, the poem I found on Google+ and on Ann Landers looks to be a really good translation.

I found this translation of You Learn, attributed to Borjes, in a blog called dissections.

Then I discovered this wonderful little homage to Borjes in an intriguing site called Rebelle Society.  Writer Andrea Balt speaks endearingly and lyrically about this poem:

I used to read more Borges in college. He was fond of libraries and cafés, so I am pretty sure I’ve met him at some point in a forgotten corner of Buenos Aires, buried in the smell of old, thick volumes of typewritten life… Considering, of course, that he died around the same time I was born. 

This is the type of poetry that the least cryptic and most enjoyable side of Borges whispers to me—not from the depths of a century-old library but from inside an even older, universal heart of sad joy.

Wait, there's more, from a blog called Comes the Dawn: About healing after divorce, which I believe was written by Linda Saxon Nix:

When I first read this poem, I was married. I didn't understand it,

nor did I like it. In fact, I really didn't like it.

It had no relevance to me. I was supposedly happily married at the time.

After my divorce, I began to understand it's meaning.

I came to realize that it is about inner strength, and learning that women

have to learn not to depend on a man, or anyone else, for their happiness

and fulfillment. I learned that in everyone's life there are good-byes

of one kind or another. We are always saying good-bye.

Spouses let us down; spouses disappoint us; spouses don't keep promises.

Spouses and other loved ones die.

Friends move away; friendships cool, and children grow up and leave home.

They begin their own lives and aren't so much a part of ours anymore.

Some stay close to us, live close to us; some don't.

Parents do the best they can, but most of us have some scars and issues from childhood.

Eventually, these scars leave us, also.

So,

we have to build our own world, plan our own lives, and learn not to

depend on anyone else except God. Most of all, we realize that we can survive

if we are strong. Then, anything that comes along share our lives

or to make us happier is icing on the cake.

Who really wrote "Comes the Dawn"???

It is an ongoing dispute.

I had first credited this poem it to Veronica Shofftall. I received an e-mail from someone telling me that Veronica wrote it. There have been several versions of this poem. Usually it is attributed to "Unknown" because there is no official copyright owned by anyone.

Before you write to tell me that this poem was written by Veronica Shofftall, please read an e-mail that I got from Judith Evans in September of 2004. Pay close attention to the wording and spelling.

"Just thought you'd like to know, Comes the Dawn (sometimes called "After a While", or "You Learn") was written by ME a loooong time ago. decades and decades! You see it in many forms, usually attributed to someone, often a "Veronica Shofftall" and supposedly even copyrighted by her. (She even included it in a self e-published collection called "Mirrors and Other Insults", which she then had to remove from the internet because. like, it's not written by her!) There are several "renditions". No doubt, someone picked it up and wanted to put there own spin on it. Odd. This is probably one of the most plagiarized poems in the world! And I didn't make a DIME off it!

This is the real rendition (as you can see, it actually has the phrase "comes the dawn" which V. S. didn't bother to include in her spin)"I was young and stupid. I let it get out in the public sector and kick myself in the behind every time I see it, or a rewritten version of it, being claimed by this person, that person or attributed to "Author Unknown". I don't know who Veronica Shofftall is (or any of the other people that may lay claim to it) but I have gotten tired of seeing her name (or theirs) all over my work. She needs to go write her own poem.

Not that it makes any difference now. I just wanted to let you know, for the record, 

because it was on your site."

Judith B. Evans

Now, before you believe that Judith Evans wrote it, read on.

Most recently I got an e-mail from a man named Lorenzo saying that Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899 – June 14, 1986), who was an Argentine writer and considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century, wrote a poem titled "Y Uno Aprende" which he says was translated by the others who claim it. 

On August 30, 2007, I got another e-mail saying Borges wrote it.

You can read a huge argument over who wrote it on

http://www.emule.com/2poetry/phorum/read.php?4,27156,40760

Personally, when I find that more than one person claims authorship,

I know that one of them is lying, so I don't credit anyone.

It amazes me that people can be such liars.

The mystery deepens. Since there is no proof, I say the author is Unknown and Unproven.

2012 - Update

Unbelievably, in October of 2012 I received another letter from Judith Evans, 

and I quote verbatim:

"Not all Plagiarism is intentional. I was shocked to find Luis Jorges poem and spent a few weeks scratching my head and trying to figure out where I had been exposed to it and never could figure it out. I can only assume that I read it or was other wise exposed when I was young and just didn’t remember where the words came from But I want you to know that I contacted as many people as I could remember or find to correct the information. because I was NOT the originator of that poem. I honestly thought I was. It had such a familiar sound. But then, truly gifted poems to speak to the soul in each of us. I am sorry I mislead you. It wasn’t intentional. I feel sad for Mr. Borges that this - Quite possibly one of the most beloved poems in the world – somehow became so detached From his name. What a person writes he/she should get credit for."

Actually, the only thing that matters is that the poem has been meaningful to hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and that should be enough credit for the real author.

Moral: If you write something prophetic, get it copyrighted.

I suppose if one could ever discern how prophetic his or her poetry truly is, that is, from the get-go, then one could get it copyrighted.  That said, I marvel at how a poem can go viral, and be meaningful to hundreds of thousands of people.  

How, in addition, the best and the worst of people can show itself along the way.  Maybe Shoffstall did translate the Borjes poem, and laid rightfully claim to the translation.  Maybe Evans wrote honestly about what she believed in her claim and then disclaimer.  

Or maybe Shoffstall and Evans were simply lying.