Here's another one (T sent me):

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“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 dreams,
for the adventure of being alive.

Where you live doesn’t interest me
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you have touched the center
of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have
become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

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.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint others 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 sit with pain,
mine or your own,
without moving to hide or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
mine or your own,
without cautioning us to be careful,
be realistic, or to remember the limitations
of being human.

I want to know if you can live with failure,
yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout
to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

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

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

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 for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are,
or 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.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.





[ Adapted from a poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer ]

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