Yesterday I was looking over my old blog, Splash of Spirit, and saw two poems that I had written under the titles “The Hand of Love”, and “The Hand of Love II,” which I wrote in 2008 and 2009 respectively, before I knew I was a poet. The first one I wrote in a writing group that I was leading for homeless women; I think the first line, in the middle of the night, was inspired by something one of the women suggested. In the second poem, I think I was consciously echoing the first one, though probably not looking at it. Anyway, I thought it might be worthwhile to reproduce them here:
The hand of Love
I.
In the middle of the night
the mother comes and strokes the child’s hair
running her fingers through
gently smoothing the strands
In the middle of the night
the currents of dreams softly realign thought
disentangling the questions
deftly smoothing the strands
Soft as water
strong as currents
lifting the mermaid hair
up from the rocks
smoothing it and holding it
in disentangled ripples
The hand of Love lifts all tangled things
smoothes them
sets them right and holds them
in shimmering order.
II.
In the dawning of the morning
Rays of light stream like combs through the trees
Freeing each branch from its background
Lifting sight
Inspiring the chorus of the birds
In the dawning of the morning
The fingers of Love reach every dreaming thought
Warming each molecule
Enlivening joy
Tuning the chorus of the Word.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 8, 2013