Tag Archives: religion

Preparation of the Heart

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I may bring tears to this process —
it doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here,
doesn’t mean I don’t want to be cleansed

I may bring tears —
it doesn’t mean I’m sad —
they are, I guess, a way that I surrender,
a way that I acknowledge
I can’t do this alone,
nor even know the “this” I should be doing

Prepare my soil —
banish the traffickers of worldly ways,
break up the rocks, dissolve the thorns,
prepare my soul,
and I’ll be here to water your sweet seed.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 10, 2019

Hymns

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We found songs in the wilderness —
some were left for us
by ones who had traversed the path before —
they told of things
we hoped one day to see

Others rose out of the rock
and the work, and the constant travel,
and the bone pure perception,
in the air, in the stillness,
of the Truth that guided us
along the searing way

We sang songs in the wilderness,
and as the land began to green,
we recognized some things
that we had sung about so often,
only guessing and imagining
how they might be

We sang songs of the wilderness
resting in the promised land, rejoicing in the gardens,
learning the things our songs had named,
also remembering
how we were inspired
when we were headed here
from far away.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 30, 2019

Using the Devil

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I’m finding the devil useful —
someone to blame
for every unkind thought,
for fear, resentment,
and the harsh voices
that want to judge
my every action,
and those of others

I’m finding it useful
to shift the blame
from anyone real
to something that can’t exist,
thereby revealing
how sweet and fresh and beautiful
everything truly is.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 11, 2019

photo by Audrey Ruhland

Commandments

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ferns

Because we are dearly loved,
we haven’t been left
to wander through this dream alone.
The guiding signs have been written
in the pattern of ferns,
in the movement of clouds

They have been placed
in the throats of birds,
irresistible for them to sing,
They have been given to us in scents
and in the breath of winds

And set down, too, in words
which, though in dream state
we may think of as commandments,
are ways for us to fathom
what we are,
these truths that, when we keep them,
anchor everything,
and with their clearing focus
wake us up.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 28, 2016

Daily Bread

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shoreline-rainbow

What is given to me this day?
To the untrained eye, my daily bread
may look like struggles,
fear and doubt and lack

But as I learn to see
I understand that what is given
is the abundant meeting
of every challenge —
the fortitude, the courage, inspiration,
creative power to bring forth anything,
whatever has been out of place or missing,
whatever is most needed for today.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 19, 2016

Joy in Heaven

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sail sandpoint early

We’ve been dwelling in that bright edge
called Joy in Heaven, called
glory of needs met, the clasp
of reunion, the satisfaction
of soul-hunger fully fed

We didn’t know
that what seemed to us as
long nights with no stars,
deep tunnels with no exit,
hopes dashed again and again
was really just a backdrop
for the enduring truth
of our awakening

We didn’t realize that the bitterness
of what we thought was our perpetual betrayal,
when sweetened by the taste
of our belovedness,
would turn out to be
something else entirely,
something deeply craved
by all the host,
something greatly celebrated
as we come home.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 24, 2016

Instruction

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Sun,water,willow

In humble obedience
I loose myself
from the bands of my neck,
I rise
I stand up
shake myself free

What missive is this anyway?
What authority so advocates
for liberty? What judge commands
that I serve no penance,
that I be simply released?

What instruction is this,
that bids me fly on my desire
and soar up quickly
to infinity?
That bids me walk unburdened
from any self-induced
or generational weight

Shake yourself from the dust,
it says. What will this mean for me
in each new day? What worlds
I will master, if I but cleave
to this direction!
What songs I’ll sing
in the joy of fresh discovery!

©Wendy Mulhern
August 23, 2016

Caregiving

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signs of heaven

We look for signs of heaven
in our cool living room
(sheltered from summer heat)
when the old man awakes from sleep
and asks, are all my sisters gone?

I lived a good life, he says.
Yes, you’ll make it in alright, I say.
I ask him what he thinks it’s like,
and if he thinks he’ll see them.
He says a little; I don’t press it

For I feel we’ve touched, perhaps,
a depth I haven’t seen in some time
(or maybe ever)
I listen, instead, to the sound of traffic
coming in the open window.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 28, 2016

Offering

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Shoreline sky

I will bow down
in order to take off,
I will dip into the slip stream,
I will rise swiftly, pulled up
by the climbing current

Each day, to do this, I will sacrifice:
I will give up my fear.
I will slip it off my neck, over my head,
I will lay it down. Thus unburdened,
I will be ready for the updraft,
when it comes. I will stretch my arms wide
to take it in, to revel in the sheer expansiveness
of flight

I will remember:
humility is light and pliant —
it is no pain to carry,
it is so much better
than all those splintered beams,
those sharp shards,
those things I used before
to try to build myself

I bow my head
to receive this blessing,
I serve this truth
in order to be free.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 5, 2016

Behold the fowls of the air

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front pasture grasses

Let me fly
in the rich provision for my being,
let me take no thought
for what will hold me,
what will glide me
along the subtle billows of the day,
what will deliver me
glowing and fulfilled
into the calm of evening

Let me take no thought
but let me know it fully,
let my gratitude warble
in a voice much larger than my form
across the land.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 16, 2016