The Invitation

The other day, a friend shared a poem with me -- a poem entitled The Invitation, written by a woman called Oriah. It is profound and it moved me to tears at first reading.

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, 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 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.

Every now and then, you read something, or hear something, or see something that speaks to you on a level deep under the surface... something that describes so perfectly what you feel or think or believe... something that makes you stand up and say, "That is what I want!" or "That is who I want to be!"

This piece of writing did that to me... for me. I think it will be a while before I'm able to fully process just how deeply it dug in... before I will fully realize its impact... before I will be able to break it all down and absorb each verse. And I expect I will write about it again, once that all happens. In fact, I'm sure I will.

But for now, I just want it to wash over me, again. And again.

And I thought you might like it, too.

XO