Thursday, August 5, 2010

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living....

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,
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 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 a 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
from the Dreams of Desire (1995)

Cheers, from the qG Irish Rhinoman



1 comment:

  1. Irish Rhinoman- I like that Steve- and I love this- how unlike everything we are taught from an early age right? Derek and I were bruised to the bone on sunday morning after a relentless night and we did manage to feed the kids albeit a little more irritable than usual and not without some weeping at times- thanks for your challenges. I am so grateful to be exposed to these and move forward. peace, grace and all the necessary ingredients to deep living albeit not painless (albeit is afrikaans for "although")

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