Inspirational Poetry

[Widdershins]

Eh I just saw these and thought "Yes!", so I'll post 'em.

The Invitation
By Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

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 adventures of being
alive.

It doesn't interest me that planets are squaring your moon. I want to know
if you have touched the center or 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, with out moving
to hid it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, min or your own; if you can dance
with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without being cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations
of being human.

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.

I want to know if you can be faithful 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 life from God's presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or 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 here. I want to
know if you 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.

[Widdershins]

Then And Now
By Rosalind, Blountstown

I was vulnerable and helpless,
confused and afraid,
hurt and betrayed,
angry, very very
angry all at the same time;
I learned to hate, an all
consuming, deep, aching kind
of hate that only devoured me:
No longer do I blame myself,
nor am I shamed, I was
innocent, and for a long time
afterward I never really felt safe,
But somehow I have surfaced
not a victim, but a survivor...

((God(dess) I love these! They could have been written by me. In fact, I've written some similar stuff... well, actually, a lot...))

[Widdershins]

Warrior
By Wyrd Sisters

I was a shy and lonely girl
With the heavens in my eyes
And as I walked along the lane
I heard the echoes of her cries

I cannot fight
I cannot a warrior be
It's not my nature, nor my teaching
It is the womanhood in me

I was a lost and angry youth
There were no tears in my eyes
I saw no justice in my world
Only the echoes of her cries

I cannot fight
I cannot a warrior be
It's not my nature, nor my teaching
It is the womanhood in me

I am an older woman now
And I will heed my own cries
And I will a fierce warrior be
Till not another woman dies

I can and will fight
I can and will a warrior be
It is my nature and my duty
It is the womanhood in me
I can and will fight
I can and will a warrior be
It is my nature and my duty

It is the sisterhood in me

[Widdershins]

Poem for Everyman
By John Wood

I will present you
parts
of
my
self
slowly
if you are patient and tender.
I will open drawers
that mostly stay closed
and bring out places and people and things
sounds and smells, loves and frustrations, hopes and sadness,
bits and pieces of three decades of life
that have been grabbed off
in chunks
and found lying in my hands.
they have eaten
their way into my memory,
carved their way into
my heart.
altogether-you or I will never see them-
they are me.
If you regard them lightly,
deny they are important
or worse judge them
I will quietly, slowly,
begin to wrap them up,
in small pieces of velvet,
like worn silver and gold jewelry,
tuck them away
in a small wooden chest of drawers
and close.