Not to assert my will,
nor yet to leave it behind,
but rather
to let my will out like much long hair,
let it blend with the will of the wind
Let those two be subsumed in the will
that doesn’t push, nor need to,
that holds all desires
in deftly woven harmony,
that opens out all impulse
and unites us
in one grand expression,
granting us the freedom of our dance.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 2, 2023
You dip your pen deep
into the knowing of things,
you write what’s true,
and because of that,
those who read feel the pull,
through your words,
to something much vaster –
they remember
they have known this
and they still know it –
it is the Spirit
by which they are impelled,
it is the Principle
by which they move.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 1, 2023
Fog from the river rises up
to settle down in blessed rest
between the trees
In between the posturing of progress,
enduring facts of being rest, just like that,
along the landscape
And in the centered knowing
of every heart
rests the latent power
to shine its essence timelessly,
past redeemed, future safe,
life embraced,
umbrellaed in the substance
of the present hour.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 31, 2022
Contemplating stars,
mycelium, trees,
the realm of my perception,
and the path networks
of birds, of deer, of insects,
I start to see
we are all spherical –
awareness emanating from our center,
branches of consciousness
exploring, lacing,
drawing all the rich connections,
sharing the brightness
to light our home.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 30, 2022
See these strong shining lines
made of gladness for each other,
hearing of each other’s times,
imagining the brightness that must attend
such a bounty of family ties
I am glad to come rich to the conversation,
able to offer my happy account,
the better to help you feel easy,
the better to mirror sincerely
the glow that your sharing conveys.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 27, 2022
I see the smallest things can rescue me –
a string of lights, an ornament, a laugh,
the space to listen, and the joy of being heard,
remind me of what binds us to our source
Tonight the frogs are back,
singing from the north pond,
tonight my path of hope is reestablished.
Any tatters in the shroud
let light come pouring through,
help me remember where we are
and what I am.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 25, 2022
I consider the brightness
that makes all this possible –
presence of substance,
primal truth of everything,
molten beneath a very thin crust,
goodness in essence, ready to break through
Look – see how it’s done so
here in these evening moments
where we laughed, and made music,
joined rhythms together,
rode on one sound we collectively made,
celebrated the light
And behind it, the brightness
that makes it all possible,
present and primal,
truth of our substance,
bearing us through our days,
authoring all our ways,
cause of our being
our love and delight.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 24, 2022
The beauty of feet is their precision
along the mountain paths,
the way they leap along the stones
and land deftly
each rugged step,
and how they never falter,
for they move in the good news
they are bringing. And they bring
the peace that supplants time,
establishing its own flow
of unlabored unfolding,
each moment holy
The messenger reaps joy
from truth-placed feet.
All who hear the message
bless them, too.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 23, 2022
It’s understandable if you decide
to step into the box offered,
draw your feet in, curl up
to find the comfort of a safe place
The daily roads have many boxes,
different places, different shapes and sizes,
some for you, some not,
(the choices fewer when you look closer)
But you could also choose
to be defined by where you walk,
and how you open out each day,
and how your deep hope carries you
to broader, ever unconfining, views.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 21, 2022
In my time
I’ve come to find
in every darkness
a light within,
stars shining up out of a well,
bright sheen across the body of a crow,
the steady dawn of truth amidst a maelstrom of confusion,
the fact of worth that breaks the numbness of despair
Even the black silence of coercion
is ultimately proved nothing,
powerless against the light of Spirit,
showing each of us our access to infinity,
sovereignty ours for all eternity.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 20, 2022