The Invitation

[louise]

I came across this poem by a woman named Oriah today. I liked it and wanted to share it.

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 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.

? Mountaindreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperSanFrancisco, 1999

[Determinator]

The Invitation

wow. I really enjoyed that. thank you Louise.

[Accountable for Me]

The Invitation

Love it!

[KateH1]

The Invitation

Louise, This is a new favorite of mine as well!! Have you been to her website, oriahmountaindreamer.com? Thank you for sharing this poem!

[Mags]

The Invitation

Louise

What a wonderful poem and thought. It makes me cry because I know I an not so strong as the vision of the poem. I wonder how many of us truly are. But it is something we all can aspire to and for that it is so warming. Thank you very much. We all have much to work towards and it is all good.

[Saint Jude]

The Invitation

Thanks Louise.
Love it...:h

[hulagirl]

The Invitation

this is so insightful. thank you. I see so much of this stuff come through my email, etc. but this one really touched me. I'm printing it out and putting on fridge for me and hubby.

[A Work in Progress]

The Invitation

Lovely and thought-provoking. Thanks, Louise.

Can we use these thoughts as a model for how we see each other, and treat each other, here on MWO?

wip

[river0123]

The Invitation

Beautiful, beautiful! Also printing it out to keep forever!
Thanks for sharing. :h

[Doggygirl]

The Invitation

louise that is a beautiful poem. Thank you for sharing.

DG

[louise]

The Invitation

Glad you liked it. Yes Kate, I copied this off her web site. I had seen the poem a couple years ago and it touched me then and helped me deal with my stepdaughters death. I lost track of it but this weekend we were staying in a small hotel in Santa Fe co-owned by a the Picuris Pueblo Indian reservation. It was framed and hanging next to the elevator. This time I found myself reading some of the lines and substituting "without drinking". "Live with failure" without drinking. "Sit with pain" without drinking. And yes WIP I thought of MWO in the "will you stand at the centre of the fire with me." So many different kinds of people and beliefs here that sometimes that feels hard, but when it comes to the battle with drinking, I hope we can all put all else aside and do that. I watched Dolphin and Dolly do it one night. They were fighting with each other, and in the midst of it both got on a thread with a newbie to help, even talking with each other. It was very touching.

[gabby]

The Invitation

very nice!

[NoMoreWINING]

The Invitation

Poem

That was really deep. I needed that.Thanks!!!!!

[tlrgs]

The Invitation

love it thank you for sharing

[lushy]

The Invitation

That was beautiful. Thank you.