The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for living.
I want to know what you ache for.
I 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.
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 betrayal.
Or have become shriveled and closed from fear of future pain!
I want to know if you can seat 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 ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
Without cautioning us to be careful,
or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the sorry 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 you own soul,
I want to know if you can see beauty
Even when it’s not pretty every day,
and if you can source your life from ITS presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine
and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver moon: “YES!”
It doesn’t interest me 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 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.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or 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.