That Awkward Moment When…

…you find out that a poem that you thought you had written was actually written by someone else 4 years before you were ever born…
http://mylifeyoga.com/2011/10/01/i-am-nothing-and-i-am-everything/

When I published the poem, I genuinely thought it was one of mine. This is as timely a bit of notice to any reading public that I can give that I can see it clearly is his. This was not brought to my attention by anyone, I just noticed it.

The method Rainshine was born was that I wrote in notebooks that I kept for years and years…  When I decided to build Rainshine, I literally had cases of notebooks that I simply dumped out and tore through pulling out whatever seemed cool enough to keep, throwing away the gnarled scribbles of a youthful haze.

When I transcribed the pages (a process that took a whole year creating over 600 documents, both long and short), I copied what was on the page~ and many pages did indeed have citations of other people~ as seen in three locations in the book. I don’t at all mind giving credit when I know it’s due.

I honestly thought it was mine~ so I took credit for it because I found it in my notes looking like something that I would write. My work is not for money or glory, it is for the beauty of the word. I will continue to share the poem, but add the citation of “by, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” from now on.

This error was noticed recently (maybe two or three days ago) ~ a friend of mine posted it in its original form, to his Facebook timeline and I had to start looking into it…  I believe that at some point, I read his poem, loved it, re-wrote it, then simply neglected to cite it due to my lack of forethought.  Another friend has reposted it in his timeline, but without citation since then.

I would like to set it straight that I no longer claim to be the original author of a poem I previously did claim. I stand by the entirety of my work otherwise. This was a stoned teenager’s mistake. It’s a beautiful poem. I guess I’ll have to write more stuff now…  Oh, I wrote a 37 page short story recently about a ladybug in love~ if you’d like to see it in beta, let me know.

Wisdom and Love

When I realize I am nothing,
That is Wisdom.
When I realize I am everything,
That is love.
And between these two,
My life moves…
by, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

~Respect~