A breathtaking poem, given to me by a co-worker

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By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me
what you 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 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 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
of 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, be realistic,
or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me
if the story you're telling me is true.
I want to know if you can be true to yourself,
if you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty every day,
 and if you can source your life from God's presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure
and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the
silver of the 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 or grief
and despair, weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done.

It doesn't interest me who you are,
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.



-There is such power in these words, power to wake me from my daily slumber and to be present-present to myself, to my grief, as well as to others.  May we all like the company we keep, in the empty moments of our days...