if you like the company you keep in the empty moments

Ganju had given this poem to me ages back. It has been coming back to me off and on since the last few days. so today I dug it out from wherever it was stored among the other bits & bytes. I don't think I have read a better poem as far as putting things in perspective is concerned. So putting it up here for anybody who ends up here and cares to read it. I don't even know who wrote it.


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 centre of your sorrows, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from the fear of 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 wildness 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 are telling 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 see the beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on 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 will stand at 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 like the company you keep in the empty moments.