I found another poem. Or rather, it found me.
It's written by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. No kidding.
It's gonna knock your socks off. Hit you right in the heart. Make everything look clear and sharp.
It made me say, "Whoa." And then cry.
Had to share...
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 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
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.
6 years ago
4 comments:
WOW! I have just found the headline poem for my poetry unit at school. Not to mention a bit of soul searching for myself. What a beautiful message. It reminds me of what Mr. Keating says in Dead Poet's Society: "We don't read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion."
That is an awesome message! Thanks for sharing that, it gives us alot to think about within ourselves.
I usually don't enjoy poetry because I can't understand it. But most of this was pretty straight forward. It wasn't comfortable to read for me though, because it exposed too many of my weaknesses.
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