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 centre of your own sorrow 
if you have been opened 
by life’s betrayals 
or have become shrivelled 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
 or fix it.

I want to know 
if you can be with joy 
mine or your own 
if you can dance with wildness s
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 limitations 
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 is not pretty
 every day.
 And if you can source your own life
 from its presence.

I want to know 
if you can live with failure 
yours and mine
 and still stand at 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 feed 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 centre of the fire 
with m e
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.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation