Tag Archives: nature

After the fireworks

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after the fireworks
the stars
deeply dimensioned, nearer and farther
great swath of milky way
singing like crickets.

mirroring stars:
phosphorescence
erupting like fireworks
rippling and glowing
defining our fingers and arms.

after the yes
its rewards:
a treasure to witness this
sparkling and splashing bliss
making us wish
our beloveds were there with us
wanting to share how we lit up the water
and how this bright night 
lit us up.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 19, 2011



Moonlight Sail

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Enough light to be seen
Three-quarter moon, still low and orangey
And its path across the water
Made wide by perfect wind
Glad that I could do these things unseeing
Step the mast, set the rudder, raise the sail
I launched the boat in quiet slap of waves
Glided through the glinting, rippling water
Moonglow through the sails, stars above
Phosphorescence rising to my trailing hand
Sparking softly in my wake

The moon invited me—I had to come
Though sleep was vying for my time
Tomorrow it will rise too late
I told myself, tonight is prime
I didn’t sail for long – four tacks upwind
Then I turned and ghosted downwind
Past the silent docks towards home
Glad I’d made the effort to come out
As much to say I’d done it
As to sail.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 17, 2011



Moment

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Each day has its moment of brilliance
Sometimes I’m given
The blessing of seeing it
As today, when the sun came out
Just for sunset
Just as we were going down to swim
And poured gold into the clouds
Then pinks
Floating in searing blue
As we floated in water
Bright with reflected sky
Dark with oncoming shadow
Bracing cold on top
But warm beneath
Watching the sky change
And the reflections
Till the pinks were mostly gone
Then we swam back
To the quiet, dark dock.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 16, 2011


Visitation from a cloud

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Lying on my back and looking up
I saw a wispy shape
whose form and subtle movement
suggested whirlpool
or something slower
a curling in the fold of air
a blanket
a soft expression of the love
that swaddles us
but lets us fully breathe
gives us room and impetus to fly
this deep and tender caring
we call sky.

I tried to write these words
but upside down, my pen
would not cooperate
I sat up, shook it, made it write
and then looked up
The cloud was gone
but not the memory
of what it had conveyed.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 13, 2011



True Summer

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These are the sounds of summer night
Served up in velvet warmth:
The braided rise and fall of cricket song, cicadas
The murmur of the wind, and water rolling
A clink of masts, a roar of distant traffic
The chatter of an isolated bird.

This is the feel of summer night
So full – 
My heart as sensitized as surface skin
A welling up of some sweet inner yearning
Awakened pull of tides within.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 9, 2011


Morning Bike Ride

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I can be satisfied
with this ride
though the bends of the river tempted me
(Further down the trail, where the reflected riverbanks
braid back and forth against the river’s turns
their dance created
by the parallax
of my gliding bike
I, thus among them
swooping bright along their smooth dips
and the uncanny depth of sky)
I can stop here
where ducks kaleidoscope 
the mirror of the placid water
Gentle turbulence, further on
makes the reflection perfect
renders it in interlocking diamonds
gliding smoothly down
Colors shimmer, dazzle
Fireweed and roses
shine forth audacious purple and pinks
Willow limbs thrill in reflected ripple light
Precise lines of houses intersect the ripples’ circles
Though traffic-roar and sirens pierce the day
The mellow quiet hovers close
I can be satisfied
with this ride.


©Wendy Mulhern
August 4, 2011



. . . and closing

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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



NIght Beach

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In the time after the sparkles
when the dark waves speak
in their low tones
along the dark beach
and the liquid heat
has drained out of the day
Lean in close
to take in what they have to say
Here in the hush
of night high tide
where water meets the soft sand
and the seaweeds glide
in the last glowing of the evening sky
The ancient secrets whisper once again
No, you will not put words on this
even though you’ll hear and understand
The soothing language of the bay
can comfort you
beyond all reason, or anything you planned
The circle, circle, rock and rush
persistent, peaceful, patient
when you’ve gone home, this hush, recalled
will bring you here again.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 25, 2011



These little things convince me

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These little things convince me:

the flowers’ affirmation of the breeze
the sudden dart of dragonflies and hummingbirds
the ambience of bees
the constant roll of water shoreward
in and in with no sound of receding
the slow glide of an osprey
and the smell of seaweed
the chirp of songbirds, intimate and sweet
the warm/cool scrish of sand against my feet

these things convince me of my right to ask
for every harmony to come to pass
that all our lives be lifted in a strong embrace
where each of us rides splendid in our perfect place
no more to ever settle for that dark illusion
in which our basic state is thrashed confusion

if all these things are held and blessed
then so are we
our lives in woven light, exalted, free.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 22, 2011