The Invitation
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.
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.
Released into the world in 1994, this poem began to spread across the world like wildfire. First on email lists, printed out and shared between friends, spread across the internet, read at workshops, even read at the United Nations, and now translated across the world. This poem has spoken to the hearts of many about living an authentic intimate life. With the structure of this poem, Oriah Mountain Dreamer later wrote the book with the same title by adding her personal stories, reflections, and a meditation for each verse. As a powerful storyteller, she allows us to see our own stories reflected back. She speaks to a deep longing in the soul for true and meaningful connection.
“The Invitation” is a declaration of intent, a map into the longing of the soul, the desire to live passionately, face-to-face with ourselves and skin-to-skin with the world around us, settling for nothing less than what is real.
—by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation
Will you accept The Invitation?
….simply saying “yes” … feeling the pull of the heart or the quickening of the blood that urges movement forward, is not the same thing as actually making the journey.
—by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation
Will you go on the journey to be deeply present with your own soul?
Thank you for opening up a whole new world to me.
The poems you share have been both enlightening and awakening.
Please continue to share with us, in this news-shattering world of late!
Peace be within you.