The Invitationby Oriah Mountain Dreamer
One of the most beautiful, deep and expansive poems I've ever read, and I'd like to share it with you.
The Invitation
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it for fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitation of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from it's presence. I want to know if you can life with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feel the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
This poem has the ability to crack me wide open every time I read it. I want to embrace my life with more love and depth and curiosity. I’ve accepted The Invitation many times, and then I forget. Then it reappears and causes me to remember and I accept again.
This Invitation is for you as well. Will you accept and journey with me?
yeah sherrie!! i seriously , just yesterday, wondered about you and your blog site activity. noticing that i missed it. i rarely , if ever, replied, or commented. tho i usually read them, reflected (perhaps rather briefly), and ALWAYS enjoyed your processing. thankyou for coming back . thank you for letting me into your space and sharing more snipets with me. your words are meaningfull to me. whew! :)
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