Wednesday's Words of Wisdom Not My Own....

I originally read this in an Atlanta newspaper in 1998. I've kept it and made copies through the years (in case I lose the original!) I didn't know who the author was until today.

Her name is Oriah Mountain Dreamer, though that is not the name she was born with. Apparently, she has now written a book to go with this prose-poem. You can read more about her here.

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.

--Oriah Mountain Dreamer