‘I Accept’ and ‘The Invitation’ By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

‘The Invitation’ –  by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

‘I Accept’ –  by Alexa Allen

Here is the beautiful poem ‘The Invitation’ by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.

Upon my first reading it I had a natural poetic response.

So below is Oraih’s poem in bold on the left. And in response is my own poem ‘I Accept’, in italics, on the right

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.

For a living I breathe, I feel, I squirm, I stretch, I taste, I open, I pray.  

I ache for actuality to show its face in every precious moment

And for my entirety to be pulsed and merged with alertness and connection. 

My heart longs to take over the limited life that is experienced only through my mind. 

Each heart beat is a dream in itself. 

I follow its pulse in the direction of truth. 

To not do so is suicide.

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.

I am ageless, yet young and old and wise too.  

In my awkwardness at reaching for what is authentic

I’m sure to some I look strange, demented, freaky, kooked

And to others, radiant, caring, present, in love.

I struggle like a worm on hot Tarmac

In the direction of my dreams

Always heading towards what’s natural and green

Sometimes lost in the immensity of space.

It doesn’t interest me

what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know

if you have touched

the centre of your own sorrow,

if you have been opened

by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

Touched the centre of my own sorrow?

I have made love to it.  

Deeply and intimately.  

I have willingly beckoned it to penetrate me.  

And to melt me from the inside out.

No wonder it keeps coming back for more.

The betrayals of life have fallen upon me and into me.  

Cascading into my heart with eagerness.  

Towards the inner classroom.  

Where all gets battled out.  

And equations for serenity get formed.  

And marked up upon my soul x 100.  

So that I remember.  

And sometimes in that classroom.  

I am the dunce, in the corner.  

And I don’t wear that hat lightly.  

It feels like its made of fucking lead.  

Heavy enough to force me underground.  

But the life mathematics get formalised non-the-less.  

And I always leave brighter.

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 have been blessed with so many emotional tornadoes.  

Treacherous and All Mighty.

I have learned that the way through hell is to keep looking God in the eye.

To create a heart lock in.  

And to be present and flowing.  

I know that nothing needs to be fixed.  

That acceptance and allowing.  

Is like honey on the soul.

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,

to be realistic,

to remember the limitations of being human.

Being with joy is an ocean not yet fully chartered.  

I’ve mapped it out and have started dipping my toes.  

The hugeness of joyfullness, unbridled and full of passion

Freaks the living day lights out of me.  

I need support and trust to get there.  

I have gone down deep and dirty into the fear.  

Yet joy lays beyond.  

I still have my anchor down somewhat.  

But I’m on the right vessel.

And starting to get wet.

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.

My own truth is taking priority.

Reclaiming its energy in every possible interaction.

I can feel my hooked binds releasing

From the unspoken investments with others

The lies

that I am responsible for the life force of another.  

I am learning that in relinquishing these faulty beliefs

I become stronger.

Less likeable in someways.

Less ‘easy’ for others.

But transforming for me.  

With each stand I take for myself I refill my aura with Divinity

My life with allowance and permission.  

I don’t weaken around the different guises of others.  

Or change my behaviour to fit in.

I strengthen in the realisation

that we are equal.

This grows measurably stronger with every choice to be me.

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 can see the beauty in most things.  

And most interactions.

And most befuddlements.  

I have a healthy obsession with understanding growth.

And I analyse and find awe and beauty

Most often before pain and ugliness.

The pain and ugliness comes when I collapse into struggle

And I struggle so that I can process and find the love

And get a healthy footing upon my path again.

I can sit and be with God.

I am most fulfilled when being with God

As like a child I easily slip into awe and wowness

And detach from the structure of time

As I navigate and breathe in

The cloud

The freckle

The blade of grass

The rainbows caught in my eyelashes.

I want to know

if you can live with failure,

yours and mine,

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

‘Yes.’

I now know that failure is an illusion

That success is being right here right now

With all that is occurring

And to not run away

But rather to love myself

In all my muck and pain and glee.

I always offer a nod to the skies

And thank the light of the sun and moon

For guiding my life

In its own true way

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.

I have no children but my own inner ones

Ka-billions of them

It is them, us, we, me

That I cherish and support

After weeks on end of being broken and frightened and despairing

Right up to the edge of death.

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 centre of the fire

with me and not shrink back.

If being amidst the fire meant to be connected

Heart to heart

Soul to soul

With another being whose intention was as deep as mine

I would douse myself in Cosmic petrol

And light the match myself.

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.

When all else fades away

I return within.

When all else is still apparent I still return within.

I am sustained by my own connection to source

My own love of myself

With the understanding that all I need is abundantly within.

I know the power of prayer and I nurture my relationship with the Divine.

I know that if I peel the veneer from my living eyes

That I can see and feel all of love and life in every atom, every experience.

I want to know

if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

It is in my own aloneness

In those empty moments

That my true being truly shines her light.

There is no better companion for myself than myself.

In her company my needs are graciously met

And if not met

At least recognised and held x