It's an wistful, warm and sunny afternoon here at home. And all afternoon, in-between texts with my mother and coming across literature I've kept on my cloud drive, I came across the poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (The Invitation).
I saved that poem years ago, when I first came across it. It's an very favorite poem; it's strand of thoughts conveying an particular reality that's often something I struggle with - concerning ideas of relationship ideals, ideas interconnected with an culture of perfection, and the often misunderstood ideas surrounding grief, heart ache, betrayal, and 'cardinal sins' which shape your life in unexpected ways.
Especially the italicized part of Oriah's poem, below. Truthfulness and honesty carry an lot of weight (Integrity), in my world. I don't really understand this strand of thought, in this particular passage of her poem. But, I often meditate on this poetic portion of verse.
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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 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 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.
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, be realistic, 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 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
Photo Credit: Kristin Elmquist