Tag Archives: communication

Resolutions

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As Cassandra knew,
Seeing someone’s future
is no more useful
than seeing someone’s problem —
You can’t tell them about it
Can’t get them to believe, or to reform

It shouldn’t be surprising —
No one else is different from ourselves
And we have always found
these resolutions to reform
to be contrary escalators 
Plunging downward
much more rapidly
than we can rise.

Close your eyes
The winter sun that sparkles on the water
Still flickers, strobe-like, underneath your lids
The light still loves you,
Still knows how to touch
each dream that you, from fear of failure, hid
Your truth still owns you, and it knows
how every part of you is put together
Already worthy, cherished, ever whole
Not needing harsh reform to make you better
No need to reinvent yourself, no way to fall
And as it is with us
it is with all.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 1, 2013

Jacob’s Ladder

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(Notes from the fifth seasonal five women gathering)

We fold and unfold and refold
Constant surprises of new faces
appearing and then hidden
reemerging later somewhere else
We see each other
We see ourselves
Faces that we recognize from now, 
and, too, from other times
We mirror, and are mirrored
And in the grand revealing of our paths —
our being, spread across a stretch of time —
Great gardens spring to life, to light
their fragrant blossoms sweetening the air

We are a circle
A circle of love and caring
A circle of women
Holding the safe net
we all jump into
Feeling the tug at the sides
as we hold each other up
Feeling our cords strengthen
in the stretch of the give and take
Feeling the ties of our intersections
hugging us close

We are angels
Ascending and descending
Bringing ourselves messages
and the dear assurance
that this land, this place
has been prepared for us
and we will inhabit it
and bring forth our fruits.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 24, 2012


Night Walk

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In the space between our palms
(our fingers clasped,
 our slightly swinging arms
familiar and enchanting as we walk along)

In the space between our palms
there is a world
Contained, enclosed, but infinite
in its scale
Planets glide around small stars
Warm energy converges in the center

And messages can be conveyed
across the sphere
Not words, not anecdotes
not concepts and conclusions
not tasks or resolutions
but something better
The simple joy of being here.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 3, 2012


Focus

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My truth is not betrayed
And though I trade
in things that can’t be seen
I am not fooled
What is not seen
can still be known
I hold my truth
and so I’m not shortchanged

I watched the whirling falling of the maple seeds
I felt the fall of other bits of husk
I saw the leaves, green on layered green
I felt the sun

My love is not betrayed
Though it be not reciprocated
Where my love is made
it will sustain itself
It settles
Finds its focus, finds its home
It falls like rays
It falls like light sifting
Illuminates the scene
and knows its own.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 12, 2012


Going away

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The days trip merrily
like mountain streams
collecting memories
and undone things
Pooling deep
in new hopes and dreams
Leaving so many intentions
helplessly behind

Then suddenly
the cataract of imminent departure
approaches, and the urgency speeds up
and as the last tasks get tumbled into
or left behind,
In the swift pause before the fall 
I find
a sweet tug:
Gentle pangs of coming separation
Stretching out the net of our connection

All is well
It’s good to feel this pull
It shows
that even from afar we’ll know
the movements of each other—
Each other’s dreams
Each other’s yearnings
Each other’s tidal swells and drops
Lending a harmonic chord
to everything we do
Heartstrings’ duet—
A kind of double view
to all our days apart:
Stretched across the span of time and space
We each will thus hold one another’s place.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 12, 2012


Twilight, Green Lake

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Down under the trees
We watched the slow darkening
of green leaves
against the blue of sky
viewed from below
while evening’s glow
settled on the lake

And we had no hurry
We had time to rest like stones
Releasing the day’s heat into the night
And we could speak in low tones
Close enough to hear each word
To feel the peaceful rise and fall of breathing
And the ease of shared feeling,
Understanding rising as the light receded.
Relishing the much needed
stretch of growth together
Like these trees that gain their inches
in the dark.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 5, 2012


Daily Bread

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If I could give you anything
I’d give you one moment
of knowing
how deeply you are accepted
How perfectly you belong
in this particular place and time
In this singular infinity we call
Here and now

I’d give you the grounded certainty
that you are loved
Seen for what you are
and loved for that 
— all of it —
(What you hoped was normal
What you feared was strange
What you didn’t dare affirm
to be your precious, holy gifts)

Having given that
I’d give you it again
I’d give it to you every day
and every time I saw you
One time of knowing is a touchstone
But knowing all the time 
is daily bread.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 25, 2012



Amends

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A heart that has been touched
will turn
walking back along the path of words —
things said in hope of being heard,
whose impact may have singed another:
“No, that wasn’t what I meant —
I didn’t mean to cause you pain
I only wanted to be seen
Please let me make it right again”

Back along the path
Running now, to close the distance
Running, hoping not to trip
To reach you, and . . . 

What’s needed here 
is not more explanations
Such words, I fear, would only further tangle
Just let me take the time to stop
to witness you
To listen and to hear
Behold you
and really see
Breathe with you 
until you know:
When your heart spoke,
Its language stopped me in my tracks
Made me turn back.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 23, 2012


Opinions II

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Opinions are like snapshots
Frozen impressions
Maybe true in their moment
But static —
When you’re holding them
you’re not seeing
the moving truth of now

If you think that you’re comprised of your opinions,
Each time you meet someone you’ll  think
for you to get along, your opinions have to match
You’ll pull them out, negotiate
and maybe you’ll be sad
to find that no one there agrees with you

But if instead you know that you’re comprised
of the dynamic interaction
with what comes before your eyes,
with every opportunity to be amazed,
to understand and value things
in your inimitable way
to co-create the truth 
with others who are present
You will find
remarkable confluence 
of a satisfying oneness
and a lovely, bracing playground 
for your mind.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 4, 2012



Alpaca Shearing

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Feels like an honest day’s work
Hands dirty, clothes dirty
Body fatigued
Easy to slip from attention 
to numbness
and on into sleep

Feels good to work as a team
Never abating the pace of the labor —
Hum of the motion of sharing the effort —
till every last thing is done

Heat of the animals
Heaving and powerful —
Holding them firmly
while soothing them softly
Treat them with iron and silk

The sound and the smell of the shears
Precision and speed of the shearer
The texture and spring of the fiber
Gathered up quickly
and passed to the sorters
in grade labeled baskets
over the fence

And I didn’t feel tired till the pause
when a wave from behind me
rose up and engulfed me
and sent me to where
all the ambient sounds —
bird calls and bleating —
took on different meanings
drifting me closer to dream.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 2, 2012