An Invitation

by Oriah
 Mountain Dreamer

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
 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 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.