Tag Archives: perception

A Way of Seeing

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I start to believe
that this is not a matter of
evolving, not about
some distantly perceived
far off enlightenment

This perception has run
like sheen on fabric
all along the weaving of my life,
in my waking moments, in my memories,
in my hopes, in my assessments of my days

Everything Spirit — the spirit of everything,
everything held in its essence inviolate,
everything formed in the Mind that conceives it,
nothing whose essence can fail

Yes, this has been a thing I didn’t know,
something whose knowing now saves me from fear
but in its perception, I see that it has to be
something I’ve always known.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 10, 2019

Sleeping

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I’ve been sleeping for a long time —
sleeping as I walk through my day,
some old tune looping through my mind,
sleeping as I do the needed tasks
without feeling much of anything

I started thinking how it might feel
to be awake to see and notice
the living forces moving through the moments,
the swift imperative impelling every life

The world could open out in color,
the sky would sing, the air would dance,
all things would celebrate each other,
all breath would praise,
and all the earth would laugh

Now when I think of it,
I try to wake myself up,
at least a little,
at least for now.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 8, 2019

Footing

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If I find you before you set foot
in the world, before its quick traction
grabs your steps, flings you
on an unintended path

If I find you in the impulse
of your desire, in your wish
for all the beauty and perfection
in all your interactions

Then I will see you as you are,
and hold, perhaps, a beacon
to help you find your footing
in this day.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 6, 2019

Re-vision

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Retile my past —
take all those broken squares,
those incomplete perceptions,
those ways I failed to see
the truth of being,
so I can understand
through present windows
that nothing in my life was ever missing

Is not this grace —
what wipes away without a trace
the meted consequence,
all our indebtedness?
— and in its place
reveals the fruit that waits
ready to satisfy
when it is seen.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 2, 2019

Angel

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I sat still
so I could
consider the angel —
that rift of my daily perception,
that tearing away
of the predetermined
course of things
(the slowly wilting fading picture
with all its hopes diminishing,
its outcome possibly horrific
or ultimately, in the best case,
sad)

The angel was like
a ripping of that scene in two,
revealing, where the picture was,
a vast expanse,
a light above the sun

I had to stop,
for everything is different,
have to watch
to see how I’ll be led.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 30, 2019

Quiet Mind

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With eyes shut
I could be anywhere —
my mind quickly slips me
far from this parking lot —
I shift again and notice
I’m not actually on the cabin porch
nor yet in the northern meadow
with the midday brightness
that now refracts
in many flashing triangles,
shards of memories
and fallen vectored efforts
seeking to settle,
seeking a quiet mind.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 22, 2019

Shifting

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There was movement everywhere
but presence was defined
by stillness,
a translucency
whose glow was seen
between the arcs and threads,
between the strides,
between the branches

There was music ringing out
from deep within the silence,
what seemed dark
becoming clear
in the sheen of rolling curve

We turned our focus
from what we thought defined us
to what was underneath,
to what has been here all along.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 25, 2019

Intersections

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We may walk together
along these paths,
along these stories,
we may share vistas
but this is not an open beach —
I am aware of holes
big enough to get lost in

Mostly
I’m not mentioning them,
I’m choosing ways
to go over or around them,
things I think you can believe,
things that won’t demand you
to walk the miles with me
through and out of darkness,
things that won’t demand you
to veer off wildly
from what you perceive.
Perhaps you also do the same for me

We only know each other
at the intersection of our known worlds,
and that’s the sector we can walk together.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 29, 2019

Could Be

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Could be a lot of that stuff
I’ll throw under the bed
and not think about for awhile

Maybe there’s a way of thinking about things
that is much clearer than all my habits.
The need, it seems, is to keep those habits
from jumping all over the new thoughts

Could be a practice of silence
and meek observation
with dew all around my eyes
reminding me with each blink
what it is to be new
will help.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 29, 2018

Thought for the day

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And the vision was flying beside me
like the flock of birds suddenly
at my shoulder, as we walked
near the shore

It touched on
layers of worlds
and how a shift in focus
can operate on each one —
the world of sound,
the world of light in a father’s eyes,
the nexuses of casual intersection

And it said:
All your longings will flow out
of all containers where you try to hold them,
they will turn from light to lead along the street,
but the brightness you desire
is yours, now and always —
it sits, in willing ease,
upon your brow.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 23, 2018