Poetry Thursday
glass on our porch, canon digital rebel xt
(the driftwood you see is a windchime made for us by Letha with sea gems she found on a trip)
Not too long before my husband proposed to me, we sat in a bathtub facing one another and he read this to me, line by line, out loud. With tears in my eyes, I accepted the invitation...
THE INVITATION
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder, May 1994
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 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 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 or fake 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 disappoint another to 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 if it’s 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, 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, wary and
bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
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 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.
posted by boho girl at 6.7.06
25 Comments:
I have this book- I love that poem too, and if my husband read it to me in a bathtub I fear my heart might have exploded. What a beautiful moment it must have been (and as usualy your photography is awesome)
*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.*
I really love this.
Thanks so much for sharing.
I love this. How romantic! Have you blogged about the proposal yet? I'd love to hear what a man who read you poetry in the bathtub did to ask you to marry him...
I think between emailing you and reading this...I have cried enough happy tears for the week!
Good god Carsten!!! Brother....I never knew?...Actually, I did...because this is how you live your entire life.
I have to "Thank you" for loving my sister so deeply. You make her so incredibly happy!
Carsten is 6'4" ? Must have been a BIG tub! hee hee
smugs xxxd
i just had SO much catching up to do! you and carsten are BEEEEYOOOTIFULLL. i love you so much. the way you live each day is inspiring and wonderful to me. thank you for leading the way.
Wow. That's beautiful and full and deep. It gives me a peek into your relationship and souls that you would both respond to words that question every fiber of who you are and if you are truely strong. These words are inspiring. so when is carsten going to get a blog? You'll be the most loved couple in the blogiverse. :)
xoxo
britt
what beautiful words...and the two of you sitting in the bathtub joined by them seems so perfect and sweet.
i am wishing and hoping all the stars aligned for you yesterday...
this is beautiful...i'll be sharing it with my sweetheart :) your husband sounds like an amazing person - what a fabulous couple you two must make!
best to you, with all that's going on...you are wonderful.
love to you!
oh i love this one. i just love it. and boho boy is such a romantic. love that.
the colors in the picture are wondrous!!
loving that love, and the invitation honey :)
love,
leonie
How many years now for this romantic romance???
May you "grow old together"
Consider yourself one blessed woman.
O! How sweet that driftwood windchime is!!! You'll have a touch of us all before you know it dear child! How romantic, a bathtub poetry serenade!
Wow, that's good. Of course, the rest of us men really hate guys like your man. Lucky, lucky you!
beautiful. the poem, the windchime. the persons behind them. :)
wow...
that sounds very romantic
:)
and i love the picture,
the light coming through the
colored glass...
that gets me every time
:)
You two are pure gold.
So very sweet of your hubby.
What an angel he is.
Such a special moment and memory to hold in your heart for all of your days.
Magic.
Bx
BTW... I knew I read this recently... here:
Carrie's Blog
What a small blogging world I have... tho the sistas are all very different.
Interesting.
Wonderful.
Bx
Beautiful glass. Your so artistic.
Inspires me to get back into art. Even since I became a Mom Ive gotten so busy I lost my interesting.. I think its coming back tho heehee!
I love this poem. It says everything. And woo-hoo to you - a man who reads poetry to you in the bathtub. ;)
This is a beautiful poem. I love it, really captures the true meaning of a marriage, the meat of it. Oh, and where di you buy the glass orbs that are suspended in rope? I LOVE them!
Wow. This hits me right in the heart. I have some thinking to do!
XOXO
oh! It opened! (So often when I try to leave you a comment the box stays white/totally blank and I have no idea why) This is SUCH a meaningful poem it brings tears to my eyes. I hadn't read it in too long. Its one of my mother's favorites, and I find that so incredibly moving that your husband read it to you. It says a great deal about his heart and soul. Thanks so much for posting it!
'I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments'
such an amazing poem, and such beautiful circumstances to hear it in! Have you read her book What we ache for? i think it would speak to you, little petal
x
ps. Mr Kroon is such a smoothie :-)
This is the best poem I have read in a long time. It really captures what comes to mind when I think of a great, very intimate relationship.
Wow...May I be as blessed as you to find a man who reads poetry like this to me in a bathtub!
Wonderful poem, thank you!
I too, would have cried my eyes out if this were read to me by my love...
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