At the end of a day of
working like a farmer
(though a farmer would say
I don’t know the least of it)
I wait for my strength to return –
flow back along the watershed
to the pool of my presence,
gradually fill up
and become limpid,
ready for me to drink
deeply once again.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 31, 2023
I would rather be gathered,
rather be one of many small charges,
all of us nestlings, all of us nestling
into the care of benevolence,
under the soft wings of Love
I would rather be gathered
than strut with opinions
out where my flaws in accounting
will flatten me,
all calculations amok
I would rather be gathered
and feel the companionship,
brothers and sisters all settled in, too –
learning together the depth of Love’s bounty,
harmonies layered and true.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 30, 2023
Scripts breed uncertainty –
so many times to encounter divergence
of what is described
and what I’m observing
And scripts can themselves be uncertain,
sketched in impressions
from half-heard pronouncements,
guessed implications
from things I can’t ask about,
lest I admit I don’t know
And so I’m approaching unscripted,
open to see what the moment requires,
hoping my trust and respect are accepted,
praying my moves be inspired.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 29, 2023
My hope is that we’ll live to see
bricks of oppression crumble,
as the dendritic seep of life
laces through everything,
and what’s alive is strengthened,
and what is not of life
becomes increasingly irrelevant
Our strength will not be
the rules we were forced into,
won’t be the structure imposed from without
See? This kernel of strength
grows within us,
this network of strength
makes its own innate order,
this blooming of strength
fills our minds with its fragrance
and ushers us into our own.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 28, 2023
Though I am happy
that the bees are happy,
happy
that I did no harm,
I still feel the longing
to have them close at hand again
I had them in my hands,
I had their sweet scent
wafting inside of me,
I had no understanding
but tried to act as if I did
and so I lost them
I certainly perceive that I’m no expert,
but maybe I have learned
just a little bit more
about feeling, and listening,
and not trying to be the boss.
About letting them bee.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 27, 2023
In the shade and aroma of tall firs,
a young turkey mom beat her wings
and cried out, sending tiny chicks running,
scattering to safety
from my gaze,
which then took in the lovely stand
of wild purple irises,
rich among the newly unfurled ferns.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 26, 2023
What a relief to know
I am not God
(and neither are you)
I don’t need to hold
all these things in order,
don’t need to solve any looming hard problems,
don’t need to do what I can’t do,
can’t fail
What a relief to know
none of us people are God.
None of us need to be feared or bowed down to,
none of us need be afraid
No one has power to hold things in order,
no one has power to make things go wrong,
all of the beauty we live is protected –
we have been safe all along.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 25, 2023
Life doesn’t end. Stories do,
and so their endings can be happy,
tied up at their full circle, a flouncy bow
showing
all these arcs had meaning –
that which drew us forth
intended that we find
what we are seeking
Life is always starting up the next thing.
Stories satisfy because they give us
endings we can rest in
And so you know – I learned
I didn’t kill those bees –
just sent them home
to the neighbors’ waiting hive,
where they seem happy.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 24, 2023
At the failed hive
I see these bees like dreams,
small thoughts, their busy purpose
forgotten with the queen’s loss,
what remains of their being
clinging to each other in last companionship
as they drift off into whatever consciousness
greets them on waking.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 22, 2023
Not an emotion, this sorrow
is structural, comb drawn out
in my heart, white etchings
a bare start, arrested
before they could take form,
long before they could hold anything
These hopes, like queenless bees,
huddle in small patches
as the memory of why and where
disperses
But a stronger structure,
as yet unnamed, is taking form –
I wait to see what it will support,
what it may contain.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 21, 2023