My eyes are new,
the dew still rests on my perceptions —
they have that brighter than life quality,
the startling delicacy of something
not yet parted from their maker
I blink, I feel the moisture
around my eyes —
may they so ever stay!
May every day refresh my vision,
may the new edge of my learning
always roll out in surprising colors.
If there is a destination
let me not dwell on it
till I arrive.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 24, 2016
What inadvertent loop
brought me back to the place
where all the stories of ancient fears
had congregated,
where they sat in cold knots
feeling forgotten but wielding
their influence, oozing their stain
onto my outlook?
How was it not enough
to remember
the warm expansiveness
of my liberation? How could I
fit myself, cramped as ever,
back into those constrictions?
And how do I get back to free?
Since trying has failed,
I try not trying.
I look for the stillness
of not doing.
I may find myself back here again —
I’ll gain from learning to escape.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 16, 2016
There is a great calm here,
now that I have taken control
of all the voices that were, till yesterday,
suggesting what I thought
and how I felt
I have no more need
to form an opinion
about you or anyone,
no need to feel discomfort
or dislike. No need to be weak
or make excuses. No need
to be clumsy or give up
All the vectors of myself
can now move together
to serve the purpose
for which I am intended,
something I’m now free to learn
each day a little more.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 11, 2016
Ah, we are rendered strong
in rushing water,
not by virtue of the swell,
not from the tumble,
but from the way life always
bids us raise our head,
and how we find ourselves connected
to what keeps holding us
even down and down along the rapids
We are rendered strong
in our discovery
of what courses through our sinew —
inner energetic rivers rise
to meet the outer ones.
They celebrate together
and we are strong.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 10, 2016
So if you’re going to be unflappable,
it doesn’t mean
to a certain extent,
doesn’t mean
until you finally hit your limit
and explode
It means you move in a different ether
where none of the tugs from former worlds
affect you at all.
Your calm is not conditional
nor is your peace
nor is your love
The currents that move you
are those of your own essence
and your belonging
hand to hand
constellation to constellation
springing in cartwheels
through the sky.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 7, 2016
In small steps
we move toward cozy,
nestling batts between the studs,
walls filling in wooly
We dream of rugs and tapestries,
a wood stove,
some comfy chairs, some source of light,
friends in for tea on rainy evenings,
a little loft where we can spend the night
We dream, we work,
and it appears
as well is must
for we are makers —
more powerful than we have known.
We work, we trust,we make it happen,
we hold the vision and it comes to us.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 6, 2016
The closing inward
happens in front of everyone,
shows itself as brown, or red, or gold —
this surrender reveals the inner essence
with the unconscious grace
of truth
So it is
when harsher days
force us to abandon all pretext,
the unpretentious brightness
that we have no strength or attention
to hold back
simply shines
without our even knowing
We color,
we fall,
we turn —
so we are seen,
so we are known.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 5, 2016
My mind settles down.
The things I had been thinking through,
though interesting, have ceased to chatter.
I find I have no need to draw conclusions
From where I am, I watch, I choose —
I tell myself when ways of feeling
may not be the best use of my being.
I don’t need to feel sad
and I don’t need to feel worried
It’s much better to hear the hum of evening
and the calm continuance
of all the breathing,
and to know that I, too,
fulfill what’s needed,
in thought and presence,
in time and place.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 3, 2016
No need to be nostalgic for my past,
however lovely photos say it was.
My life is ever here, in the placing
of feet on wet grass, in clouds sifting
between the trees, in the smell of sun
after the morning rain
My life is here, in sitting together
cutting and peeling apples,
joining in a task without asking
or being asked, just because
our hands know what to do
My life is here
in waiting out storms,
in holding the peace, in offering calm,
in giving clear direction as I see it.
I’m learning to put myself to good use
in the small and steady way
of every living thing,
essential member in the web
we weave together,
the web we all need,
that needs us all.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 2, 2016
When you find
the poise with which to hold yourself
and the wide laughter opens up
in your chest
and the whole day rushes in
with each breath,
vistas and light gifts
making you happy
You will do what you can
to hold onto it.
If you lose it, you’ll keep trying
to find it again
and you will,
for it belongs to you
more than years and years
of constricted habits.
It is your right
to move in all your power,
it is your nature
to own your day.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 29, 2016