Tag Archives: home

Sustenance Prayer

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Hold my days, Spirit
Hold my days —
I won’t find satisfaction any other way
You are the wind that moves all;
It’s so clear
Nothing else is substance; nothing else
is even here

You are the breath of my desire and its fulfillment
You provide the inner fire 
and the inner stillness,
my going out and coming in,
My home and my adventure
Each thrill, each triumph, every friend
And all I can imagine

It does no good for me to build my dreams
with bricks of circumstances, things and schemes
Which are ephemeral
as ripples intersecting
They flash and disappear, and no projecting
of meaning onto them can make them last
(They only glint in future and in past)
But that which moves in me and gives me life
Sustains me always,
Always makes me thrive.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 30, 2012


Possibilities

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I’ve been keeping a door open all day
Maybe some bugs have come in
But there’s a sweet breeze
and a gentle whistling of the air
and something that turns my feet
subtly sideways towards the opening
and sets my thought softly drifting
towards the outside
A place where currents blend
And fragrances combine
in ways that offer journeys for my mind
And bees do their persistent work
And birds and squirrels offer commentary

I’ve been keeping a door open
to draw me out
And to offer entrances
In the steady breathing
that’s called home.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 22, 2012


Asking for Heaven

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If it is true

(and it is)
that we can have
all the good we can imagine,
The trick is to imagine it big enough:
To get a glimpse, and cherish
what it feels like
to have a good that covers every need —
That doesn’t end abruptly when the time is up
or care is spent
or we are pulled away to fill our roles
as slaves of guilt
or slaves of debt

And so I treasure each of these
Each hope, each joy
Each hunger, every yearning
For they help me frame the asking
for the promised thing —
That which, when requested,
must be given —
So I won’t settle for a grim security
because I didn’t know
to ask for heaven.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 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



Chain of Lights

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It’s an unexpected gift
to be seen
and to find myself to be
part of a chain
A chain of shining lights
pulled along in awe and joy
on through the rolling wave of time
The pulse of undulation
and the centrifuge of spinning
augmenting our connection
to each other
Leading us enchanted
to the place of no beginning
The place from which we came and now return
knowing it has always been our home.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 3, 2012



Bedtime Prayer

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One last cocooning prayer
before I sleep
One last tuning 
with that which keeps me
One last recall 
of what prevents my fall
The tender cradle
that enwraps us all

The cozy blankets
and the horizontal plane
won’t, on their own
assure my peace
but my true thanks
and prayer with soft refrain
will bring me home
and set my soul at ease.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 30, 2012

(Background music: Isaac Shepard, “Slow Down”)

Soul holding

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And when he leaves his home each day

Embarks upon his sea of consciousness
Alone along the arc he travels
through crowds and conversations, correspondences
Who holds him, stands beside him, with him, guards him?

And when she hugs her cat
and leaves for work
in shoes she chose to play the part
along the corridor down which she walks
so far from any touch or recognition
Who holds her? In whose heart resides her image?
Who keeps a constant cord of close connection
belays her, holds the strong affection
to draw her home, remind her who she is?

How is it that we spend
the vast part of our day alone
tossed in the waves of our perceptions?
So dear it is to hold in thought the anchor
of someone who is holding us within

Then, friends, let us each lift up a soul
For something so intense
it is astonishing
how light they are
And that’s because they’re held already
Glistening as strings on Spirit’s harp
Suspended intricate and steady
Still grateful for our touch
that wakes them up.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 18, 2012

Picture: Jennifer McCurdy, Gilded Wind Nest. Photo by Gary Mirando.  Background music: Max Richter “Andras”

Wishing

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The power of a simple wish
If left in peace to germinate
Will gather secret energies
Push through the surface
And create
As perfect as a tender leaf emerging
The image that impelled the wish’s urging
You wished for home —
That place we all desire —
Not that we travel all those miles and hours
But that right here, with no need to acquire
You feel home’s deep rejuvenating power
And so it was, a few turns down the road
A sign we followed, mostly just to see
Where every token that, for you, said home
Was waiting there in breathless harmony
And not that place alone, but others since:
Each time we let the wish unfold in peace,
It shows its graceful power to evince
surprising bounty
in the meeting of our needs
Such gifts await us!
Such satisfaction we may know
By cherishing the wish
Then letting go.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 30, 2012

(background music:  Isaac Shepard, “Let Me Sleep”)



Shelter

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A house of cards
A house of straw
A house of words
What gravitas can they afford?

A bold, invented self
Or even one that hides
And only tells itself its little stories
How can it feed the hunger of my soul?

I’m rendered quiet
I don’t even have two cards
To lean against each other
No straw that isn’t old and wet and mildewed
No words to form a self-respecting cover

So I go and dance
I build my house of arcs of reaching arms
And light that flows between each darting glance
All filled with music and the moment’s charms

And if my gesture shelters someone else
And gathers others as its moves unfold
I, too, will find a shelter for myself
In that sweet harmony
The dance can hold.


©Wendy Mulhern
February 15, 2012