The Awakening Poem

I began to write "The Awakening" poem seen on the home page of this site, sometime circa 1988. My mother was undergoing 

chemotherapy. Doctors had given her a mere year to live when she was initially diagnosed...and the words we all dread, "you should

get your affairs in order" were coldly uttered to us. It was devastating! 

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My parents had been married for years but I was just a young girl when they divorced. Following that separation, life began to unfold quickly with various challenges that would accelerate my maturity. My mother's illness was one of the things that propelled me to grow up faster. 

 

I developed a profound descriptive analogy to write from the life lessons I had to face and my thoughts slowly became written expressions of what I observed around me, of what I felt or experienced about life. Much was through pain, in this case the pain of knowing a huge loss was nearing. The loss of a parent: my mother. This, is how my "AWAKENING" poem was birthed. Through more than a decade of illness and invasive medical treatments, my mother was able to outlive that initial one year death sentence. Ultimately however, she lost her fight and passed. I, completed "The Awakening" with first-hand knowledge of profound loss. The daily anguish a person losing a loved one feels, is indescribable unless you have lived through it. I pulled from the pain and void I experienced to capture my feelings and put them into words of encouragement, hoping to help me recover emotionally and hopefully someday help others on a similar path. 

 

I printed a draft format of my work to share with friends who would proof read....or provide an opinion, and somehow a copy of MY draft (which by the way included mentions of God...for I was in constant prayer and which mentions were at times altered or omitted when copied online) was stollen. My poem was uploaded to multiple platforms online---without my consent, and without my knowledge. 

 

My words, my thoughts, my life lessons....shared and plagiarized throughout the internet. Multiple people online posting my work as "Author Unknown" thanking whoever wrote it for helping them get through difficult moments in their lives.  WOW how humbling, I thought...I was so happy to help those who MY words touched and perhaps, helped. I send you my love and my blessings.

 

Others however, were claiming my work. My God, how? Some even fighting for ownership of MY words...and I, completely oblivious to it all. I was so busy with life that I had set aside my literary works for a future date and did not know plaigerism for any of my work was taking place online.

 

I returned to school and wanted to graduate before I began to publish but family and friends constantly pushing for me to publish even if just one of my poems....or any of my works propelled me to post this meaningful poem. I went through my writings and began to search online for the process and to my surprise, MY WORDS, MY ENTIRE AWAKENING POEM, was online. I was shocked! 

 

How in the world could any human being feel comfortable claiming credit for something they DID NOT write? These individuals must feel so worthless I thought in silence as I sat in dismay. Is it that only by stealing from authentic authors could these thieves feel validated? Are these people so empty and incapable of being genuine that opting to copy someone is their only way to be recognized? Why plagiarize an entire literary work? It was all too surreal for me. 

 

As I sat staring at my laptop screen reading these LIES about something that is mine...esspecifically from two individuals who fought for months for credits to MY POEM....MY WRITING, I was baffled to see how selfish and desperate for attention these people were.

 

One person claiming my work, mentioned "The Awakening" poem being about a breakup. As I read through those words, I couldn't help but picture my mother suffering through chemotherapy, with endless puking sessions...the complete loss of appetite, her fragile body aching and wasting away with disease on a hospital bed. My mother's hair stuck to a pillow every time she turned her head to answer a nurse or a doctor checking on her; chunks of hair detaching from her scull each time with unbelievable ease. I thought of the extra years I could have had with her had she not been so terminally ill. I felt a knot building in my throat as my eyes filled up with tears because in that moment, I was forced to re-live the void I felt when I wrote "THE AWAKENING" as I waited for her to perish. 

 

This poem dear friends, entails a huge amount of life lessons and a very long journey which involves much more than just a "bad break up" as one of the thieves who claimed my work, stated. I lost my mother to cancer but before she perished, she fought very hard for thirteen long years without ever loosing hope. The passages you read in "THE AWAKENING" are all real. The encouraging statements I write about, come from a place of actual experiences.

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I wrote "THE AWAKENING" to help all who like me, have endured difficult life lessons....to help you get through anything painful or challenging. My words are meant to help anyone who needs or seeks hope or inspiration. I aim to provide a few words that help those in need, who value human life...with all quirks and imperfections, with all human flaws...within any group, within all faiths...my words are for all mankind...to help AWAKEN people to more love and kindness...specifically, the love for self. This poem is about tapping into the power we all have within us. A gift I humbly offer humanity: The Awakening, to self Love. 

 

I pray my words continue to help all who need encouragement, to help as many as possible to cease being victims and instead, become victors, not mere survivors. 

 

I am flattered beyond words, that my THE AWAKENING poem has helped so many....that it has traveled the world....and even, that some valued it so much, they plagiarized it...but I am equally disgusted that it was claimed as theirs in its entirety. The good side of this story is: I have helped many. In addition, I KNOW I WROTE THIS...and the IMPOSTERS....well, they know who they are and they know they are. I encourage those who copied my work to stop copying and work from within to create original pieces: draw from your own experiences and put that into YOUR OWN words. Be proud enough and love yourself enough, to create originals; you may surprise yourself with a great result. 

 

I am claiming my work, MY WORDS...and sharing them with YOU in the correct and completed draft version, on this site. 

All other postings that you find online are unauthorized and plagiarized copies from a draft format of my literary work, "The Awakening" poem. Unless it is an exact version seen on this site with my birth name, Judith Espinosa as the author....it is a plagiarized version and not authentic. 

 

For those who posted "THE AWAKENING" poem, starting with "There comes a time...." as seen on this website citing "author unknown" or "anonymous" for author...my respects. Perhaps you attempted to find me and were unable to....at the very least, you did not claim work that is not yours.

 

Unfortunately, many if not all unauthorized copies have been altered. I am reaching out to all who posted those unauthorized copied versions and ask that you retract those. Replace them with my authentic version and proper credits. 

 

Feel free to contact me via email from this site, by going to the CONTACT page. I just ask that my work is not altered and that proper credits are given. 

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God Bless you always! Namaste!

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Judith Espinosa

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