Tag Archives: daily living

The Gift of Here and Now

Posted on by
1

I offer this moment —
Gift to Spirit,
Gift to the ever unfolding presence —
This time of the half moon gaining strength
against the deepening of evening,
These trees, now in silhouette,
with their occasional hushed
lofty observations,
This time of walking
on the quiet pavement
while distant traffic roars
and headlights sometimes loom
down the suburban streets . . .

I offer this moment
and wait to receive
in whatever way it may come
the gift of here and now.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 10, 2014

Night Rounds

Posted on by
1

cuddle5_0020-001

I go through the house
turning off lights, turning
down the heat
putting the house to bed . . .

Outside, the rain
has settled in for the night,
Inside, others
head towards sleep . . .

Far away
my children tend their own orbits —
I have signed over
the ownership of their peace . . .

Here at home
the soft night light
radiates out
enfolding us all
in its embrace.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 2, 2014

Composition Accompanied by Granddad in the Rocker

Posted on by
Reply

cuddle7_0004-001

So I tell myself,
this distraction might even be
the tune, the backdrop
on which my inspiration will roll out

I listen to the chair squeaks —
high pitched and persistent,
scraping out an almost-steady rhythm,
each squeal slightly different,
though not enough to make a difference

Every now and then there is a pause,
but not quite long enough
for the silence to settle in
and spread out its
welcoming open page.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 22, 2014

Mid Term

Posted on by
Reply

Oh, you have been good
You have been so, so good,
fighting through for all those deadlines,
pluckily plugging on . . .

But even more than that,
You are good —
Good in the way that makes the wind
want to help you, the sky
want to halo you, the sun
count you as kin,
even when you’re sleeping,
even before
you’ve turned everything in.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 17, 2014

Conundra

Posted on by
Reply

There may be
a hundred little pieces
that don’t fit,
that jar and grate against each other
and squeak

And they may also seem
supremely unimportant —
the solution as irrelevant
as it is hard
I can’t even ask you
to take heart,
Can’t advise that you stay
or leave

And yet I see you
in sweet ease,
in light laughter
that will bubble up
like expanding earth
and change everything,
shining your dreams till they’re true.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 23, 2014

Almost Napping

Posted on by
Reply

In my not quite dreaming state
I felt like another person,
someone who was sleeping on my other side,
someone who had another stairway,
chocolate colored, smooth like pudding,
that she could climb
to another story.

The draft on my back
that kept me awake
also made me feel alive —
small bursts of excitement
at possibilities of places to fly,
people to be,
buzzing through my shifting sense of self . . .

My daily window of belief —
How small it is!
How infinite the plane
in which my life can play!

©Wendy Mulhern
January 14, 2014

Just before the turn

Posted on by
Reply

It’s not quite time
for the quiet click
that signals
the start up of a new cycle,
not quite where the whirrings
of the measuring machinery
propel the system on
past the pause at the top of the circle
into the subtle push
before momentum picks up
and sends the circle onward . . .
Not quite time,
but we can pause,
here as anywhere,
to let our breath catch up.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 31, 2013

Year’s End, 2013

Posted on by
Reply

There will be no falling, this time,
into the end of the year,
no tumbling of untallied days,
no cache of uncounted hours
to not expect, but then to have
for languid wandering through paths
of memory . . .

These days are still measured,
still ordered — needed for the steady
mounting for the launch,
in rising hope,
into the next ascent.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 29, 2013

Settled

Posted on by
Reply

All of these whirlings —
frenzied opinions bouncing
against each other,
frazzled worries gnawing
at the air,
These will cease,
and everything will settle
in the calm continuity
of our care

No fear, for though life’s torrents
cast our prognoses into doubt
and though we can’t predict
how our projections will come out,
We know the rich weight
of all that’s real
will still be with us
when the dust clears.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 28, 2013

Celebration

Posted on by
Reply

In our new life
we will reclaim celebration.
It will be as frequent as our days,
as individual as our loves,
spontaneous songs and hugs and dance,
gifts that arise in the moment

Our paths will be constructed
so we come together
as a matter of course,
and we will rejoice
because we see each other,
we will be glad
because we are seen.

Our celebrations will not be
a distant gleam of hope
to sustain us through dark 
and weary months.
Each day will be royal —
Even our work
will be full of light,
and each of us, each day, will be
cause for delight.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 22, 2013