Back to safety

I walk myself back from the edge
(or tell myself to)
before I throw my hopes down
on something that could never hold them,
before constructing a set of cautions
which themselves are anyway
already over the edge

I put myself back
(or remind myself to dwell)
where light falls lightly as light
upon my scenes,
illustrating and establishing
what is real

So I avoid a heavy handed projection,
avoid an expectation,
avoid interpretation
of what simply is –
the evidence of present care
and nothing less,
the everpresent touch
of tenderness.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 24, 2023

Contexts

Truth, coming into view
takes on the contexts
that it shines through  –
colors, textures, rhythm, song –
and those perceiving it
are always moved

Truth, in another context,
moves in anew –
its lines are different,
as is its form, and yet,
those who receive it
know it, too

And though there be a disconnect
in color, shape, and sound,
we know the quality of truth
is still the same,
by how it deepens us,
uncovering our feet,
how it teaches us
to leap free.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 14, 2023

Equilibrium

It’s not that we stop spinning,
curling in the currents,
spiraling along their lines
unseen, by us unknown

Nor that we gain the viewpoint
to see the movement from above,
predict, or orchestrate,
or even sing along

This peace, instead,
comes from the inner balance,
the focus of the moment
and the joy of presence,
so instead of being swept,
we ride the swirls,
and own the place we are
and what we give.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 23, 2023

A Way

We walk the fields together,
and many tasks could dog us –
dropped projects, ones we haven’t even started,
things that once were done
but now must be maintained

We see the green
that sprang up after snow,
we see the slope of ground,
the rise of trees

There is a way to look at all of this,
that we may master
as we practice with ourselves and with each other,
there may be
a way to harmonize all this
and see the springing grace inherent here.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 28, 2023

Twilight

It’s magical outside  – mist and moonrise
and the last blue before the final dark.
Snow has chased through the day
but it is gone now – the kiss of cold remains
but that is all

It’s magical inside – the windows
show the same last blue,
and the reflections from our lights and fire

It’s just a way of feeling about it,
a way that gathers warmth,
and gathers presence,
and peace that deepens
in the rounded shadows of the years.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 5, 2023

I guess

I guess it’s better
that there’s no one here
to aid and abet my righteous sense of hurt,
no one to be an echo chamber,
magnifying what I say,
making these perspectives seem
to come from everywhere,
no one to give me comfort
in standing in a false place

So i have no choice
but to let that picture fall away,
no choice but to let my feet
reach deep into truth
and anchor there.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 12, 2023

Service

It may seem easy
(thanks to force of habit)
for me to see the opportunity
to serve some lofty goal
if only I were there instead of here

The service here
is far more humble,
and may seem almost pointless for its smallness
(voices say not even worth the effort)

And yet this frame,
the one my eyes see out from,
this moment, and the things that I might think,
this truth, from which my love arises,
is the only point of action that I have

I move, my thought moves,
and I bring this with me –
the way to see, to love, and to uplift,
the present place where I can bring forth blessing,
a constant portal to the infinite.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 20, 2022

Distance

The path at this point
turns out not to be
an easy one to explain

I’ve gone too far
through the wilderness
for a facile reference
to register

(which means I see
you don’t know
what I’m talking about)

I would have to take you along
the whole history of my journey
or lead you through the whole logic
that comes to this conclusion

Or otherwise, I guess
it’s just better for me
not to talk about it much.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 9, 2021