Release

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Wendy

I thought my struggle
was to become capable,
to learn and do, do and learn
until, from rough edges
a fine form emerges
and I do the needed thing
with grace

But perhaps my struggle
is to silence all the loops of thought
that cast me as unable
and all I need to do
is leave those loops
to step out knowing
I have always done those things
and done them well

Perhaps my struggle
is the smooth release
from all that said I couldn’t,
exchanging calculation
for faith.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 11, 2016

Spring’s Truth

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Wendy

Nothing is mundane
when the fragrance of blossoms
blesses every breath
and blackbirds and robins
sing its praise

Nothing is mundane
when the inner greening
continues tender
and rapt attention
finds its place

All the dead blackberry stalks
have become brittle,
and though they still may snag,
they can be snapped away,
they can be left behind,
space can be made
for what is soft and fresh and sweet,
we can be defined
by where we are alive.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 10, 2016

This Way

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Wendy

I walked back today
along the path, in my mind,
where I had come, saw the crags,
the sharp ascents, the bracing view,
a good reminder
(as the way trends downward
into the understory, shaded and close)
that progress has been steady,
that the path rises, after this,
to further heights,
and there will be more views,
more stretches harder
than I have ever climbed,
more to change me beyond recognition,
and nothing for it
but to keep going.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 25, 2016

Yearning

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Wendy

See how we are all yearning,
how we reach, and cycle back,
see how we pursue what we believe
will give us what we need —
we reach, we grasp, we cycle back

Whatever stories we may try to use
as traction, to show some progress,
relative at least,
against the wave of others who are striving,
just keep us in the loop of not receiving

Look! We are all yearning,
and what we want is really all the same,
and no one’s course is any more approved
than any other.

Let us join hands,
for in this gesture we may find
(hands clasped, hearts unshielded,
current flowing)
if we can’t give each other
what each other needs,
we’ll still begin approaching what we long for,
we’ll still create the openness
that lets us each receive.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 16, 2016

Climbing Out

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Wendy

I will climb out carefully,
I will extricate myself
from the piles of stories,
from the emotion webs
that snag and catch at me
I’ll step out deftly
from the wiles of glory
and assumptions
of how things have to be

I’ll climb out carefully
to the place of clarity
where the strong sun-touched winds
will sweep away the dust
of that old structure,
and I’ll breathe clear
and look, and really see.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 13, 2016

Inner Voice

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Wendy

Truth is,
you need to trust
your inner ear,
your source of balance,
your intonation,
and no attempts to balance you
from over here
can be of any use. I need to trust
that you will calibrate
and find your finest tuning
on your own

Truth is,
I need to trust
my inner voice
and not let it be silenced
by reasons formed somewhere outside
the center of my being —
by my mistrusts, or by concerns
of others, or second-guessing
how its counsel is perceived.
I need to hone its clarity
by listening and following
and holding true,
even if I’m not sure why I do.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 17, 2016

Walking Through

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Wendy

I will stand my ground,
and if the sand shifts beneath me
I will settle my feet in again,
I will lean into the wind
and I will not be desolate

I will close my eyes
and blink into the knowing
of what holds me strong and steady,
I will wrap myself
in the practical rise
to the moment’s exigencies,
the mantle of resolute calm
for an unknown course
and many miles to travel

I will walk on through,
for there is no other way.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 30, 2015

Let it Go

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Wendy

Well, you don’t hold up the world
by worrying, so let it go,
let it go

Seeds in the ground
don’t need your exhortations
to bide their time
and spring forth when they’re needed

And your body
doesn’t need you telling it to breathe,
telling it to beat its steady rhythm

Let it go, let it go

Everything comes home,
in its time. Even the venturing out
is part of it, part of the
ever-growing claiming and reclaiming
of its own —
its place in the divine dance of being.
It will do so without your worrying —
let it go.

Each of These

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Wendy

Please forgive me —
all this time I have imagined
each of these as form-bound,
limited in viewpoint and potential,
minds of size to fit within.

I have misjudged them.
Each of them is portal to infinity,
each a representative
of that grand impulse
that sounds the stars, that
sends the waters cycling
in such exultant waves of thundering power
that everything rejoices

Each of these is made
to deliver the precisely needed blessing
in that moment where our circles intersect.
In that interaction,
we are made whole.

Gracefully

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Wendy

In graceful ways we start to learn
the things we need to know—
sovereignty, surrender,
how the two go hand in hand:
we surrender our enslavement
to be sovereign

And though it seems, at times,
like a hard, hard choice
(because we clung so long to this?
because we didn’t know another way?)
we get to make it
in little increments,
tiny pebbles dislodged from the facade
that had encased us,
till the whole thing crumbles down
and we find
that we can move
in ways we thought we only maybe dreamed

We can stretch out,
we can expand
so far beyond the former surface,
gracefully,
for this is ours to own.

Earth Whispering Press

Poetry, ideas, inspiration

Tag Archives: personal growth

Release

Spring’s Truth

This Way

Yearning

Climbing Out

Inner Voice

Walking Through

Let it Go

Each of These

Gracefully

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