When I see you clear, I see
I don’t need to try to change anything,
don’t need to make you see, and then correct
some inner failing. In the light I see
the shadows drop away, I see
they never had been painted on your being

When I see you clear, your light illumines
doubts within myself, helps them to fade,
so in your light I find my own redemption
as my criticism falls away

And though a rush of voices may rise up
to try to pull my thoughts back to the fray,
my clearer sight will overwhelm their story,
flood out the stridency, let peace prevail.
I lay aside the old urge to be right —
a worn out battle I don’t need to fight.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 15, 2016