Please help me find this poem!

[Artygurl]

I used to have this poem, years ago, and lost it. I've been going crazy trying to find it again, but i am not sure of the exact words!

The poem is written by a woman. It goes something like
I don't care (want to know) what you do for a living, or how much money you make, or what you think of (mundane matters). I want to know what makes your soul soar...what you burn for...what (coming up with a blank here) when you are all alone in the night.

It's a fairly well-known and really beautiful poem. It's theme is sharing/wanting to know what's important, what's spiritual, what's deep and real and essential. The lines alternate between I don't want to know (mundane fact), I want to know (spiritual matter).

Do you guys have any idea what i'm talking about? Any help would be HUGELY appreciated!!

Thanks!
Artygurl

[AuntShecky]

It would help if you knew the poet's name or could quote a line exactly.
The sentiments sound a little like those of Edna St. Vincent Millay or Dorothy Parker.
You couldn't be thinking of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet could you: "How do I love thee?/Let me count the ways. . ."

[PrinceMyshkin]

Pretty sure it's a poet or writer with "mountain" in her name but can't do any better than that.

[Artygurl]

Yes!! It is a poet with Mountain in her name. I'm going to try to google that, and see what i come up with.
Thanks for that hint
AG

[Psycheinaboat]

Arty, please post the poem or at least a link if you find it. I am curious!

[Artygurl]

Found it!! Thank you PrinceMyshkin!! I am so happy to have rediscovered it at last. It's "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, and it's just beautiful if anyone wants to google it, and read.
Thanks again!

[Artygurl]

Psyche, here is the poem.

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 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 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, 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 be faithless
and therefore be 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 a 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 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 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

[Psycheinaboat]

Thank you! I actually printed it off. It will give me something to read when I need a short break from studying. :D