No sleuth was needed
to pick through your life
noting and condemning
ways you fall short —
misguided attentions,
crucial things neglected,
everything that needs to be corrected

Your life is clear,
innocent as dawn,
untouched by any tales
of what you have or haven’t done —
Pick up the cloth and shake it in the wind —
all that isn’t you will fall away,
and as for your bright presence,
it will stay.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 1, 2019