Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Checklists: Part 1

I have an acquaintance who moved to Europe a couple summers ago. Talk about ballsy. Just up and left with her boyfriend. I love her writing as it is much more eloquent and precise than my own. Also, she has variety in her blog (poetry, experience, recipes, reflections) which keeps me coming back for more. You can find her blog here.

This poem was an entry on 3/20. With all the thoughts swirling around in my head, changes I am making in my life, and new decisions in terms of what it means to 'be with someone', I find it more than pertinent these days. I will write another entry soon about my evolving philosophy on the whole concept of a checklist when finding a life partner.

an unknown mountain dreamer:
“It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living…
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 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.

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….

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 at 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 the 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 centre 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.”


1 comment:

Addie said...

I love that last stanza :)