The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what our ache for,

and if your dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It’s doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,

for your dreams, for adventure or 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 sorrow,

if you have been opened to 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 or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can b with joy, mine or your own;

if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you

to the tops of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful,

to be realistic, or 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.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day,

and if you can source your life form God’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine,

and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout at the silver moon, “yes!”

It doesn’t interest me where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair,

weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or how you came to be here.

I wan to know if you will stand at 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.

                                                Oriah Mountain dreamer, Indian Elder.