Recently, I was on the phone with my cousin Lynn. We do this once or twice a week, sharing pieces of our lives. She mentioned she had been going through family pictures and papers and found a copy of a poem in her mother’s things. It is called After a while. It was written by Jorge Luis Borges. He was a noted poet, short-story author, essayist, translator, anti-fascist and much more. He’s fascinating and I’ll write about him in another post.
For now, I simply want to share his words. They spoke to me, and I hope that they speak to you.
After a while
After a while you learn
The subtle difference between
Holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t always mean security.
And you begin to learn
That kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of woman
Not the grief of a child
And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is
Too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down
In mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn
That you really can endure
You really are strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
With every goodbye, you learn…
Poem by Jorge Luis Borges
1899 – 1986
The original portrait of Borges is by Grete Stern and is in the Public Domain.
This version I modified slightly, cleaning up spots and scratches and enhancing the image using brightness and contrast controls. It too is Public Domain.