Tag Archives: family

Sun Catchers

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These moments catch joy

as bubbles catch air and light
In the confluence
of attention and intention
Of expectation and surprise
Of readiness to be delighted
and whatever light refractor
floats into our sphere of interaction:

A bright, chance meeting in a crowded festival,
A long-awaited reuniting of the clan,
A perfect day, and freedom to ride into it
open, ready to be wafted to adventure,
Or this: a tent of time —
Enough of it together
for each of us to open up a secret treasure
to relish as we share it with each other

These lights may now be kept
trapped in the amber of memory
Where they can serve as talisman
against the darkness of tomorrow’s doubts
Remind us, from our cloister,
How we can go out
like bubbles in the wind
and catch the light.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 27, 2012



Perspective

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He sits there with his dirty hands
And rocks and rocks, and squeaks and squeaks
He has gone vacant
You can’t trust anything he says about his day
You know he doesn’t have a clue what happened.
When he gets up you’ll see
the whitish marks his hands left on the chair


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He sits there with his gnarled hands
still full of all the memories of having worked
still capable beneath the wrinkled skin
They tap against the chair arm keeping time
to some remembered song
Or to the band he marched in once
so many years ago

He rocks and rocks, remembering
The times he won, the times
He proved himself to be uniquely clever
The times when he was master
The times when he was kind
He plays them back, for they affirm him
Repetitious pleasure signals
Looping through his mind

When he gets up to eat the food that I’ve prepared
He’s always grateful: for the food, but more
He’s grateful for the time we share
Companionable repast nurturing
His sense of being wanted, and belonging


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No facts that I observe can stand alone
I’ll always bind them up in explanation
Then let my story here
be one I’m glad to own
that holds my thought in nurturing relation.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 21, 2012



Cuddle Your Curmudgeons

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Cuddle your curmudgeons
Lay their heads in your lap
Stroke their hair
But do not take their frowns into yourself
Don’t match their myriad complaints
with irritations of your own,
frustration since you just can’t make them see —
For if you do
you mirror forth 
that same old bitter world
that you so want to tell them isn’t real.

Cuddle your curmudgeons
whether they live within you
or are people who in some way
share your life
For if you do, then day by day
you’ll show them
Life’s more than disappointment, stress, and strife.

Cuddle your curmudgeons
For they are tender souls
They need to know your care
is unconditional.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 20, 2012



Counsel

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I can’t tell you what it’s worth
to work alongside someone
steady repetition, finding rhythm
common effort toward a common goal
getting grimy, overcoming awkwardness
gaining growing comfort in the job

I can’t help you choose
whether to engage
in this thankless task of working with your dad
who will not thank you, who won’t be counting points
but will slowly feel companioned by your presence
And if it’s not done willingly
you might as well not bother
might as well go hang out with your friends

I know that it’s worth something
but I can’t tell you what
I don’t know what it’s worth to you
I don’t know what you’ll get
I don’t know when you’ll know what you have gained
You’ll choose, and maybe later understand.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 12, 2012



Reconciliation

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Consider reconciliation:
It seems a miracle
to have a change so radical
not just the filling of a black hole
but actual radiance
a star that burns 
with joy as precious treasure
in the place of former pain

This shows the fact that love
though misdirected, sent out
clothed with barbs that tear —
expectations, disappointment
exercise of will, manipulation —
in the end, will do no harm
for in the time of reconciliation
all the hurt dissolves
and what is left is love

This at least is what I hope
in light of all the harm I may have done
I hope my love will still remain
and all the hurt be gone.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 1, 2012


Watching the Competition

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At a certain point I notice
Being nervous for another
does no good
and the tight way I’ve been breathing
with my breath held at half way
I must replace
must finish my inhale, then let it out
For no matter how I hold myself suspended
I’m still here
with all my weight
Any eggshells I’ve been sitting on
are roundly crushed
so I might as well relax

I know I’m called upon for something higher
I know it’s right for me
to hold a space
but not this one
I need an open place
within my consciousness
A soft, pervading peace
that holds no nervousness
that lets the grace
that always waits to flourish
open out, flow in
in healing waves with which I can take part
and so restore the rhythm 
of my heart.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 28, 2012



Legacy

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for me and you, and for our parents

You don’t need to be sorry
about your legacy
You needn’t doubt
the impartation of your gifts
These things have never stood
on your performance, your success or failure

Sure as the stars
The light of your being
has sent its beams
and the continuity
of your essence
still streams
steadfast across light years
timeless and unchanged

Whatever gifts you tried to package
Tried, with fumbling hands
to deliver to your children
Whatever they have said
or misconstrued
or failed to see
Your light has always shone on, true

And always shone, as pure
in their bright being
Nothing you have done
could dim it
Nothing you didn’t do
could ever let it fail

It’s what you are
that blesses them
that always has —
Not something you determined —
Something that was given you
before the world began
as it was given them
Rest easy 
for your love
has ever been enough.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 19, 2012



Time In

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Let me give you a “time in” —
A time of contact,
of enough cuddle
to be an answer to your lost cries
A time in
Like time before time
when everyone knew
what to do about cries
that cry meant cuddle me
Bring me in
Let me know home
Oh yes
Now is the time
for time in
for everyone:
The hothead
The curmudgeon
The one who cringes inside his shell
darting in alarm at each approach
The one who sits alone
The one who sits with all her so-called friends
hiding isolation under loud words
The ones who make their dogged resolutions
with no idea what would earn the in ticket
The ones who hide their keening under sharp motion
The ones who try all day but can’t fix it
Oh World!
Let us give each other time in
Let us come home to connection
until we have the circuits to unite
in tender understanding and affection.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 22, 2012


Lullaby for Heather

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Mother Love, wrap up your child
in comprehensive arms
Broad enough to hold her every hope
Soft enough to nurture all her charms
Close enough to smooth her brow
and rest her eyes
Strong enough to bear her 
swiftly through the dreaming skies
Synchronize her heart with yours
Refresh her with your peace
Deliver her with clarity
and new found ease
Mother Love, infuse her with
your bright delight
and bold and brilliant action
in the morning light.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 18, 2012

(background music: Max Richter, “Fragment”)

The nature of my needed lighter touch

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(in nurturing the music in my son)

Today I saw music
as it lit
(iridescent angel)
on the tip of sound
Tracing its bright melody and swift delight
Sending its rich pulsing through the ground

Today I see that music
doesn’t come at coarse commands
of sharp regimentation
nor years of dogged discipline and work
For, sunken under critical dismissal
How can the magic of the sound emerge?

But rather, music rises from
the gentle kiss of close connection
of the grace that is one’s being
with the grace that is the song
A lighting in the joy of it
A natural touching down
A cross-time current drawing out the tones
of all that’s beautiful in kindred souls

My job then: to protect
the sphere of space in which the music can appear
To let it grow by feeding it
with light and approbation
so it’s free to flit and choose to land right here
Where its reverberation will be clear.


©Wendy Mulhern
February 4, 2012