The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

 

 

It doesn´t interest me

what you do for 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 for a fool for love,

for your dreams,

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 been opened

by life´s betrayals or have become shrivelled

and closed for 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

and let the ecstasy fill you

to the tips of your fingers

and toes without cautioning us

to be careful, be realistic,

or to remember the limitation of being human.

 

It doesn´t interest me

if the story you´re telling me is true

I want to know if you can true yourself,

if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and

not betray your own soul.

 

I want to know if you can see beauty,

even when it is not pretty every day,

and if you can source your life from god´s

presence. I want to know if you can live

with failure and still stand on the edge of a lake

and shout to the silver or the 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 sort what needs to be done.

 

It doesn´t interest me

who you are, 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,

and if you truly like the company

you keep in the empty moments.