Tag Archives: humility

Gathered

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I would rather be gathered,
rather be one of many small charges,
all of us nestlings, all of us nestling
into the care of benevolence,
under the soft wings of Love

I would rather be gathered
than strut with opinions
out where my flaws in accounting
will flatten me,
all calculations amok

I would rather be gathered
and feel the companionship,
brothers and sisters all settled in, too –
learning together the depth of Love’s bounty,
harmonies layered and true.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 30, 2023

On brilliance

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Thinking that I’m so smart
(however justified the evidence appears)
has never gained me anything but pain

Please let me never
do that again –
I’m so sorry
for the stupidity it led me to,
blind as a slab, such broad miscalculations
in the shadow of my ego

Let me rather
attend to the brightness
of everyone else. Let my brilliance be comprised
of seeing them aright
and thus supporting
the dawn of shared enlightenment,
with each of us
contributing our own essential rays.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 11, 2022

Stripping

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These old habits I drop one by one,
unravel them string by string,
approaching, thus, a clearer way of seeing

Why not be comprised, after all,
of the light, the spark, the truth
of my core animation?
Why not release the constructs
of needing to accumulate
a fat enough accrual of accomplishment?

I practice stripping my thought
of all but the joyful wonder
of being here, given the gift of sight,
I practice receiving,
honoring life,
finding myself in that which I perceive.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 3, 2022

Service

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It may seem easy
(thanks to force of habit)
for me to see the opportunity
to serve some lofty goal
if only I were there instead of here

The service here
is far more humble,
and may seem almost pointless for its smallness
(voices say not even worth the effort)

And yet this frame,
the one my eyes see out from,
this moment, and the things that I might think,
this truth, from which my love arises,
is the only point of action that I have

I move, my thought moves,
and I bring this with me –
the way to see, to love, and to uplift,
the present place where I can bring forth blessing,
a constant portal to the infinite.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 20, 2022

Game Over

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Take back this costume,
take back this mask –
I don’t want to play the oppressor
anymore

Take back these petty thoughts,
these grudging,.measuring thoughts –
I refuse to play along,
being a pawn,
my steps bedogged
by haunted looks to right and left,
hounds of rejection nipping at my heels

Let me evict the oppressor’s hand
from all my views, from all my actions,
let me step forth humbly
to take the brave hand
of those who, day by day,
throw off projections marking them oppressed,
showing me, as well,
how to get free.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 27, 2020

My Task

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My challenge: to not be polarized,
my challenge – to not be right.
However easy it may seem,
how smooth the path along that route,
it never has delivered me
to the new place, the place
I long to go

My challenge: not to polarize.
So vastly better to be silent
than speak the worn out words
defining tribe

Mine is not a happy tribe to have come from –
the tribe of right (more oily and insidious
than the tribe of white,
which I may righteously deplore)

My task – dip seven times in Jordan,
learn the river’s lessons,
come out clean.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 2, 2020

Unseated

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How refreshing, how truly inspiring,
how brilliantly illuminating it is
not to sit in the seat of the scornful,
not to have a belittling thought for anyone

Not to be gnawed from within
by a terror of nothingness,
not to claw my way away from there
by setting up a structure upon which to perch
from where to look down on others

How wide the view,
now that the seat is taken down,
leaving so much more room
to see the gift that each one is.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 10, 2020

Reining in

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I had to rein myself in.
My thoughts kept trotting down,
happy enough,
the old and well worn path,
the path of being right,
and maybe funny, imagined approbation
from imagined others,
who, presumably,
shared those sensibilities
of right and wrong,
clever and in

I had to stop.
The juice I thought I gained
from such a posture
cannot sustain me,
doesn’t have the nourishment
I need, will not ultimately lift me
in the way I am
when I am still,
when I am still and listen.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 26, 2020

Setback

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I went out shiny and hopeful,
I came back grubby and bruised,
I tripped over myself
so many times,
I got in my way —
such a familiar place

I had made grand narratives
for my triumph, had configured the words
but then found myself
once again
having to settle for silence

I know
there is another way,
I see the sweet humility
that overcomes the toughest challenge.
I feel the gratitude
for those quiet moments
where I see others
have found that peace

I can’t do this alone
but I’m not asked to,
nor am I charged to chronicle the story.
The steps are shown,
and all those dear ones
wait eager to receive me when I come.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 13, 2020