Tag Archives: daily living

. . . and closing

Posted on by
Reply
the liquid in the petals feels the pull
and turns
a thoughtful wandering
the call to its core distant
half heard
like bells across many hills
or voices across traffic
they begin
a quiet molecule migration
and the petals close
relaxing from their urgent reach
feeling their own breath
enclosing their own scent
inward and inward
petals meet petals
in handclasp that reprises bud
though there’s enough world inside
they don’t align precisely
don’t seal
dew of day condenses and falls inward
like communion
or swallowed tears
the cloister darkens
petals press together
inward and inward
seeking internal support.



©Wendy Mulhern
July 29, 2011



the end of time

Posted on by
Reply
as days spiral down
faster and faster
each week coming around
sooner than the last one
as years slip
and days blip
my focus shifts
towards the end of time
as one round of fireworks
becomes so like others
I cease to need to see them
parades can go without me
and new thrills
I’d rather will
to my children
than seek out for myself
my goals drift 
towards eternity
where things unfold kalaidescopic
not in time—in endless pattern
not in chains of cause/effect, of linked events
but life connecting all its web in present tense
I yearn towards when the frenzied march is done
the end of time in which we all are one.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 30, 2011



Temptation

Posted on by
Reply
The surf of sleep waits just behind my eyes
It hushes, rushes, and recedes
It drags, like shells,
my focus and resolve
It tugs them under, covers them
and smiles
It whispers at me as I move
from task to task, a little dazed
by water’s movement
crossways
to where I try to walk
It murmurs: it’s preparing
a big wave to bring me down with it
Succumb, it soothes, come down
to where the dreams can slosh against your side
and wash you, cuddle you, caress your hair
I’m thinking soon
I may surrender
. . . almost there . . . . 


©Wendy Mulhern
June 29, 2011





Work in Progress

Posted on by
Reply
Today the tasks 
were taupe and black
The day was gray and green
My hobbled thought kept limping back
to what it all must mean
Let go, let go
It isn’t here
The things that cease to matter
though mounded high
will disappear
in so much empty clatter
Last night my sleep was sweet and rich
My dreams were entertaining
though when I woke
they all dispersed
without a trace remaining
Today some friends were tired and sad
in pain or in despair
I reached to them across the space
and grasped at empty air
I yearn, I yearn
to offer peace
Some day I’ll learn to do it
To open up that hidden door
and walk on with them
through it.


©Wendy Mulhern
June 24, 2011



Parental Fiat

Posted on by
Reply
Words still crash upon the surface
though my attention is beneath
and my intention is for peace
and I don’t want to make this process
harder than it needs to be
But I will not be moved
I must insist
The line you cross
I must resist
You can’t just toss
all of this
to the abyss . . . .
This will be my discipline: I’ll wait
be careful not to outline or anticipate
the thrusts and feints of some imagined game
Instead I’ll hold the calm
that stretches out beyond
the quarrel of the moment to the wider plain
where who we are
and who we want to be
are one
and all the stridency
is done.


©Wendy Mulhern
June 22, 2011



Solstice

Posted on by
Reply
Like a miracle
The celebrated day rose up, spreading its gifts
Bird song long before we truly woke
Then sky embracing early morning trees
with luminous touch of mackerel clouds
Then a stretching space of blue
desperate for warmth
yearned towards the cloud-clamored sun
Later, the day brought out summer
like a father returning home after too long
In my gratitude I forgot my suspicion that
he would not stay
I drank the scent of wild roses, sun-warmed
rejoiced in wind on my arms
a long bike ride
and work to do outside
and family differences to take in stride
as we tumbled to the end
too tired to attend to any more
(A meeting took a bite out of my evening
as if it were any day . . . )


©Wendy Mulhern
June 21, 2011



Thought Balancing

Posted on by
1
Summer solstice:
We are called
to try to make something meaningful
of this blip in time
But stones laugh
like water tripping down them
and piles of stones fall
with no propriety
like clowns rolling
who know how to fall
by giving and giving
and not standing on ceremony
but letting their inner dignity
fall with them like water
so it stays within
growing stronger
as they sink to their source
And all my efforts can fall 
apart
ignominiously
like bits of fluff in the wind
but that which centers me
will draw everything back
to its compelling core.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 20, 2011




The nibbled edges of my day

Posted on by
Reply

The native flute invokes a woodland scene
soft-warbled water, sifting sun through trees
high descant; low, soothing melodies
that move me subtly halfway into dream.
The sounds around me lull me into trance
the scenes to illustrate them build
behind my eyes, rise up with crafty skill
and bend the sounds to orchestrate their sense.
Which one came first? Before I know, I’m gone
the train of thought my will suggested — flown
Too brief for dream, the images all turn
like pages, sound and sight and touch as one
Fine workmanship – in fairy dust they’re drawn
They steal away my hours at night and dawn.


©Wendy Mulhern
April 21, 2011



Going the distance

Posted on by
Reply
How can I hope, day after day
to keep on finding things to say?
If I have touched essential grace
have laid it out so all can feel
its brightness and its deep embrace
what more, then, is there to reveal?
The  answer comes in simple clues:
Each life is noted, each is news –
each pine needle bejeweled in dew
each tulip that unveils its hue –
There’s always something new in how
each living thing proclaims its now
So I can witness, marvel, and attend
to what is now, and now will never end.


©Wendy Mulhern
April 12, 2011