As we have heard of wars
and rumors of wars,
so shall we hear of peace,
peace that comes with a power
against which
not even a stick can be raised
This peace wins by being
so inescapably inside us,
having grown up within us,
that no other way of being
makes any sense
This peace extends
wherever our lives send us,
this peace will win
by being presence.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 10, 2023
Before it gets too late,
before my thoughts begin
to fold in on each other,
collapse like wilted greens to where
they’re only fit for serving up in dreams
Before the sun
stops skimming in across the floor,
presenting charming patterns
(and also every piece of fallen hair)
I’ll take this piece of day
and put it here
Robin singing, breeze, now gentle,
through the open door, last sun in the garden
giving its farewell until tomorrow,
summer being kind – bright and not too harsh,
our lives still reaching tendrils
towards their purpose.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 9, 2023
I left myself in the story,
so when I follow my day back,
I find myself there, thoughts clinging,
like sticky vines of cucumber,
to a place I never was,
and the plants that I wrapped carefully
around the strings I trained them to
aren’t even in the picture
except for their texture
and the gentleness I needed
to learn their habit
so I could bend it
And the beauty of the day,
its clarity unveiled
after a morning of clouds
is only reflected
in the contentment I rested in,
letting myself revisit
the story’s storied world.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 8, 2023
You shine so bright in me,
and have, since I first met you.
Is it fair to say
your wisdom walks beside me,
that this measured calm
which holds inside it
great infinitudes of hope
is indication
of your continued presence here?
You who taught me more of love
than I had ever known –
I’m still needing to learn this practice.
Can I say that you are with me?
Can I say that what I’m learning
is something that we share?
If you will be my partner in this quest,
I’m sure we’ll scale huge mountains.
I’ll be going forward anyway,
but it sure is sweet to think that maybe
you are helping me along the way.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 7, 2023
Here is how you are wrapped up
in the Love that is your cause,
your essence, your purpose
Here is the thrumming oneness, the wondrous
pulsing together of being,
vibration like bees’ wings teaching you
as you also teach,
rhythm reaching you
as you also reach,
endless creation unfolding
at the crest of your flight,
this knowing deeper than feeling,
more vibrant than sight
Here is the language not slowed
by time or tongue,
spoken in the flow
of our eternal song.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 6, 2023
I learn these things in tiny steps,
yet suddenly it seems,
after so much effort falling short,
things in my life are starting to come green
Shortcuts I took that lost the vital nuance,
the gaps that books’ advice would not fill in,
structures that I needed to acquire
in order to successfully begin …
This lack is slowly being overcome
by working long enough to start to see,
by putting in the steady, faithful, time
and learning how things grow and what they need,
by twining my own life in with this place –
leaf, tree, and vine, and daily grace.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 3, 2023
The rising moon may be the least of it,
grand though it is, between the firs
across the fields
The rising of hope may be a greater thing,
and the sense of purpose and delight,
and the intuition
that where we find each other
is in a different place
from where we are offended –
that, indeed, offense cannot be possible
in the innocence of being what we are,
the gift to all of us our being brings.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 1, 2023
It’s not possible, I remind myself.
It’s not possible that these fine beings,
these expressions of elemental intelligence,
could crash in interaction with each other
My communication, and yours,
cannot implode, you cannot be annoyed
by the links I draw, my innocent
observations. And it’s not possible
for me to feel cut, dismissed, unheard.
These are not things I need to defend.
I don’t need to take you to task
I can be still and listen.
I can be still and let your innocence
rise in my thought like the climbing moon,
settle in my heart like dew.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 30, 2023
Within my thought
and possibly to someone else,
I’m trying to convey
the nature and importance
of my innocence
The nature – in my thought,
it rockets up the sides of trees
and down along the roots,
it darts and pulses with the flow of energy,
and it can do no harm, for it’s defined
within the very impulse
that brings it forth
And as for its importance –
it frees me from the minefield of regrets,
it lets me know that I am whole,
and always have been,
it shows me, in this moment,
how to be.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 28, 2023
At day’s end,
behind my closed eyes,
strands come like roots, mycelium,
from every quadrant of my vision
Steadily they fill the center in,
images and memories
webbing with each other …
These summer days are long and full,
and quickly I lose the threads,
everything devolving into sleep.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 26, 2023