It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned,
if you can know despair or see it in others,
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes,
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living,
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.
~David Whyte~
RIVER FlOW: New and Selected Poems
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I love how the words flow!
I know, I love this poem! And now that I fixed a typo from hot to how (horrors!) it’s properly represented!! Thank you, Caron!
David Whyte
This poem is too similar in structure and rhythm to The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (book and copyright 1999). Disconcerning :(
Oh my gosh, I went to read The Invitation, and you are absolutely right! But then I checked for when DW wrote this poem, and it was originally in David Whyte’s publication “Fire in the Earth”, publication date 1/01/1992.
Thank you for sharing. I loved (!!) reading The Invitation, also!
Interesting. Looking deeper and discovered Oriah attended a David Whyte workshop in 1995. Her poem was inspired by his poem “Self Portrait” from Fire and Earth. She was his student and protege. She also credits him in the copywright page of her book. Clarification … he was the original creative essence :) my learning.
That makes a lot of sense then. I may have confused you as my citation was River Flow, which is a 2012 publication, but there are many older poems in it, too.