Tag Archives: daily living

Straw/Gold

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front yard

I’m thinking of the straw/gold inversion
as fat drops of rain begin to round the evening,
closing the day as it began,
framing the sunny interlude in soft gray,
green of spring still predominating

What glitters in a day
can be cashed in for joy,
but only in the absence of entitlement,
which turns kind gestures into ash
and cries, limping,
for what it has not received

While even the most humble stalk,
absorbing warmth, filling up with light,
will shine its bright bar across a memory,
its gift across a life.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 8, 2016

Lazy

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garden, evening

Let’s not call ourselves lazy,
as the wind plays the chimes
and ushers cherry blossom petals,
not unkindly, along,
as needle fall, from douglas fir,
makes its dry ptick against the wooden bench

Let’s not call ourselves lazy
to be lifted thus, by sun and scented breeze,
to notice the pace of insects,
to be in dialog with what will grow,
in gentle give and take
with what the garden offers

Indeed, it is not lazy
to honor the pace
of our breath, our days,
to take time to listen,
and know to offer
only what, right here, right now
can be received

These tendrils we develop,
these tender patterns we pioneer,
will prove essential
as our sights clear.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 14, 2016

This Rhythm

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sunny spring day

Cherry blossom petals flutter, settle,
small insects — flitting sun specks —
oscillate between the shadows,
chickadees are house-hunting

Green leaves everywhere
present reflecting tops,
translucent undersides,
trembling in the light breeze
and the transfixing pleasure
of illumination

Robins have been singing
since early morning.
Clearly, this is the rhythm
in which life must unfold,
this is the model
for us to follow.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 9, 2016

Settling Down

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sunlit cedar

There are processes
of settling down,
ways the jostled clutter finds
to re-collect,
regroup as like with like,
become contiguous,
ways the pieces
find their way
back to peace.

These I summon
at the end of this fractured day,
before the dream drift starts
(a way to smooth it in
and make it pleasant):
breath like tides
to comb the tangled webs,
deep drafts to let the scattered thoughts
find the restfulness
of their weight.
An end to the to do list,
a pause. Just listening . . .

©Wendy Mulhern
April 1, 2016

Interruptions

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green lake partly cloudy

Rain beats down
in interruption of
the fleeting sun,
sun in its brief windows
interrupts the rain,
sleep interrupts thought,
thought interrupts sleep,
anxiety about our course
interrupts excitement

We will smooth it over,
we will fill our moments
with enough learning
that we don’t have time
for gaps of panic,
and the places between the doing
we’ll fill with hope.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 27, 2016

Transition

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road and puddle

These days,
I’m feeling like a loose tooth —
I bite into my days
with a wobble

Some days I don’t know
what I’ll do to fill them.
Some are so packed with purpose
I have no time
to think of what I’ll do.
I feel fuller after the filled-up days

As for the emptier ones,
the stuff I might pull into them
can feel like dust, like rubble —
things I may have wanted
now having no connection
to the new life
I haven’t quite stepped into.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 22, 2016

Going Forward

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edward,pump

Up till now, our progress has felt
like water cresting —
surging and halting, rolling over itself,
seeming not to move
and threatening to flood
at the same time

Today we begin to see
the unfolding of it,
step by step —
all these will happen
but not all at once —

We will be ready
for everything as it comes,
our work —
to match our pace
with our breathing,
one breath at a time,
no more, no less,
riding the wave till it’s done.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 18, 2016

Growing Pains

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Innis Arden walk

Learning to be real
is hard work sometimes,
as I remind myself
from my cozy living room
where I didn’t lift a finger
to make the lights come on,
to make it warm

You wouldn’t know
I’m struggling for my life,
struggling to connect
my causes and effects,
to find a way to know
that what I do has value,
to find a way to deal fairly
with all the beings
with whom I interact,
with everyone on whom my life depends.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 12, 2016

Testing

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greenlake fig

The testing is entirely internal,
though I may see it
as challenges inflicted from outside,
and that which tests me
is no external judge
but just the propositions of my mind

They hold themselves up to the light
to test for truth, for purity, transparency,
and if they have a splotch or fracture,
I’ll see that flaw projected
on what my consciousness
calls my experience

Then I can choose what I believe —
the trueness of the universe
or the refraction
imposed upon my vision of my life

And what I call reality
will then determine
if I spin out and flail
against the sadnesses and failures,
or take a stand for Life’s integrity.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 1, 2016

You, Inside

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February trees

What are you then,
when your memory
has come unmoored
and you don’t know
where and when you are,
or why or how you’re here?

I see you are the same inside —
it feels no different
to wander in those corridors
of mind, of time,
to play the rhythms
tapped into your psyche
from long ago events,
to hum, to breathe, to doze

Your loops of thought
don’t intersect with us,
but that makes little difference —
We’re the ones you struggle to place.
You are still your own companion,
the one who doesn’t fade away.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 28, 2016