The center of the fire

Don’t tell me what you do, tell me what you ache for
Do you dare to dream of meeting what your heart is longing for?
And I don’t care how old you are – I want to know if you will risk
Looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for life itself
Have you touched the very center of your sorrow?
Has betrayal opened you, or shut you off?

Can you sit with pain, mine or yours
Without attempt to hide it, fade it, fix it, or make it go?
And can you sit with joy, mine or yours
Dancing with the wildness and filled with ecstasy
Without cautioning that we should be more careful
Or remembering that we are limited?

It doesn’t matter who you know or how you came to be here
Will you stand in the center of the fire with me and don’t shrink back?
It doesn’t matter how you’ve learned, tell me what sustains you
Will you stand in the center of the fire with me and don’t shrink back?

Can you still see the beauty when it’s not there?
Can you source your very life from its abiding presence?
And I don’t care where you live or how much you have
But can you rise from bruises of despair and do what must be done?

Can you live with failure, yours and mine
And still stand at the water’s edge shouting your defiance?
Can you be alone, and in those empty moments
Truly like the company you keep?

It doesn’t matter who you know or how you came to be here
Will you stand in the center of the fire with me, and don’t shrink back? (Don’t walk away)
It doesn’t matter how you’ve learned, tell me what sustains you
(Well, I really want to know)
Will you stand in the center of the fire with me, and don’t shrink back? (Don’t walk away)

Don’t walk away
Don’t walk away
Don’t walk away