Sometimes I may have shrugged and joked that 'soon' will be the time to part. Sometimes I may have said that I have been trapped in a joking manner. And at other times I may have mentioned that otherwise I may have to remain a spinster for life if not for Mr S.O.
Still I attribute Mr S.O to my blessed life. And still when I think of him, I think of what I had read as a 14 year old. These words has impacted me in ways beyond imagination... This has partially defined my teenage years and its echo still reverberate now and then, every once and again.
And as I move away from one chapter to another unwritten one, I thought it is fitting to pay homage to the ignitor of my young mind without which I may never be the person I am today. Without which, I may have never learnt to treasure what I now hold close to my heart.
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,
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's 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 on 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.
Extract from The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer 1999
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