Kulit Co. A Happy New Year Prayer ...for us to love more, do more, be more

By KC Concepcion
Inquirer

This is one of my favorite poems and I don't know what it's called! Here goes:

"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 wilderness

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 faithful (sic)

and therefore be 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 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, (sic)

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."

Happy, happy new year everyone!

2003 has been so crazy, I can't even remember what went on. Anyway, for the next year, the new year coming right about now... I pray that the year 2004 will bring you the things you want, the things you need the wisdom to decipher the difference, the openness to embrace the unexpected, the happiness to still appreciate the predicted, and the heart to accept and to see beyond the imperfections in each other... to grow... to change.

I pray you touch the lives of others, more than you have before, in your own ways, sane or (for some) a bit drunken. I pray for us to love more, do more, be more... and for the young I pray that we are shown things about us, and all things, for more depth, and more clarity, so that we don't end up wasting our passions, elasticity and energy on things that will just die even sooner than we will.

There is so much we can do because we are young. Much, much more than we think... For the aged, I pray for that youth, at heart and in spirit, so that they realize and remember their purpose, their beauty, and their importance to their friends, their family, colleagues and employees... and the difference--big and small--that they have made, unknowingly, in the world.

They are so much more than they know. For all of us, I pray that we are able to make the ones we lovefeel that love, and have it, and own it, and love it so much, they have to bounce it back.

Happy, happy new year, everyone!

---

Viena: the poem is The Invitation by Oriah.

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/