Tag Archives: joy

In gratitude

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Who can calculate
the worth of these moments
of coming part way out of sleep,
turning over, and returning —
not fully —
just enough to touch base
with the sinuous, lusty reality
of being here, now
in this body?
With the certain vitality
of plants in spring
reaching for growth,
With the confidence of currents
of being one
with the flow of life.

By morning
they have woven
a springy web
to hold me
in the brightness of the day,
to show me
which way to turn my leaves
to drink the sun.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 31, 2013


Rising

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When we both come up
Through the thick, viscous soup
That holds us heavy and slow
When we come up
Rising with the lightness
Of slow bubbles
Rising as we must
Because our light
Bears us ever up
When we break the surface
And ascend to brightness
Then our signals
Will flash instantly
Across all time and space
Our messages will already
Have coated all planes
Inside and out
With joy
We will be caught up
In that space embracing
All comprising
Pulse of yes
Exalting in eternal day.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 14, 2012

In this lifetime

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In this lifetime
There is no “not”—
Sweet soul,
Though worlds may seem to wheel
beyond your reach,
Great stars blinking
lightyears away
Though your high teachers
may seem to move
behind a veil
which no travail
can pull you through
And though you’ve felt you failed,
with nothing more that you could do

Rejoice, for this lifetime
— long enough for every dance of grace —
of galaxies, of atoms;
too short for any tedium —
each moment needed, magical —
Has every joy that you can dream
And calls for you to claim it,
Own your name:
In this life
there’s time
for all of you to shine.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 11, 2012


Seattle Summer

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There may not be a way to find a reason
why these delicious days are rationed —
Whether to preserve their fragile, fragrant freshness
or the eagerness with which our skin receives them
Or whether it’s designed to keep us guessing
Or ready us for some exquisite blessing
in some other realm.  No matter —

The brilliance of today
will leave a mark across the summer
Shine its golden rays
over many cloudy cold ones
Teach us to embrace it
and every potent sign
of imminent awakening,
each glimpse of the divine.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 3, 2012


We are called

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We are called to liberty
Called to serve that thing in us
that levitates
that lifts
that fills us with the power to leap
to fly

We are called to joy
and nothing else
has any voice nor sway
No tales of heavy burdens or their virtues
No tales of guilt or prices we must pay
No tales of lack of worth or ancient shame
Can stand the test of truth or win the day

We are wired for liberty
And only that
Can spark our motivation
Only the call of joy can make us rise
So proving it to be our true salvation.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 1, 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



What you can take with you

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Arms spread wide, radiant face
Laughing, twirling, diving
Pulled by the music, impelled by grace
Moving at one with it, holding
true to the moment
the point of perfection
Filled up, filled out and fulfilled
in the joy of it
Never more sure of your essence, you dance
into your primal divinity
being this you for the very first time
the you that has been you forever

Afterwards, sitting alone
in the tingle and glow
that is all your cells’ memory
This is a truth you can own
Beauty has danced in you
full and enhanced by you
so now it won’t let you go
You’ll carry this mark in you
Love giving spark in you
Whoever sees it will know
This is the treasure you don’t hide away
the gift you will bring to each day.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 20, 2012

Witnessing Joy

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I will be a witness for joy
However unsophisticated and ungainly 
it may seem,
however unrefined

I will witness joy
against the voices that deny it,
those who say
you can’t have joy unless you are naive;
your joy betrays
that you’re a little blind

But I will be a witness for joy
For if it’s present here
it’s also possible
in other places

I will claim the simple joy of company
And I will claim the simple joy of music
And I will claim the simple joy of walking free
barefoot in grass, and the infusion
of a little bit of sun into the day

And I will notice:
Joy is held secure in Spirit —
ever present substance,
cause of Life’s self-affirmation —
Every living thing can feel it, hear it
Life takes joy and rises up
unceasing in ebullient celebration.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 28, 2012

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