All is given
in earth as in heaven,
change and foundation,
challenge and haven
Earth is not helpless —
the law that permeates
presence and consciousness
holds her as well
Strong winds don’t bow
to the whims of man
but they go as directed
by all-knowing hands
Let me be filled
with all-moving Spirit
where all is forgiven
in earth as in heaven.
©Wendy Mulhern
August 10, 2018
I have pleaded my willingness
many times before, so it seems dubious
to hear myself say no — now I’m serious,
as if at all those other times I wasn’t
Still I’m asking once again —
I really need to understand
the Valley of Bones,
“it shall be well”
I’ve said the words but thought the facts were final —
that what has died is fully dead and gone,
but here I am, daughter of man,
and I say “Lord, thou knowest” —
show me where to look to see Your truth.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 24, 2018
In the calculus of salvation
no effort is wasted, no case
too hard to take on, no soul
so lost as not to be worth saving
There is joy in heaven
as each of us is brought home
and especially for those
most widely thought to not deserve it
Be glad, for your intransigence
is a gift, as much as your eagerness —
whatever you are is enough
to get you in.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 16, 2018
This is not incremental change,
not resolutions, not a trajectory,
not a thing to chart and measure progress
and feel good today, or else feel bad
This is the dropping of everything —
unholy mess, colosal clatter —
this is the shock of light occasioning
complete disjunction from what went before
This is the calm beyond the conflagration
where you find out it never really mattered,
this is the waking up after your dream
where morning’s truth provides your sure defense.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 12, 2018
In the pearly deep blue Allness
you can’t fall. Or rather,
none of your fallings matter —
it catches you, cradles you,
sees you clean, rekindles your light,
sets in order everything that slipped
In the starry endless Allness
you can’t fail. Or rather,
none of your failings matter.
The Love that loves you
never is impressed
by any of those sorry frames.
The Love that loves you
always sees you clear.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 30, 2018
I will call it by its name.
I will not be afraid of it.
I will not fear that naming it
gives it power
I will not accept the ruse
that hiding it
could work in my favor,
I will not cringe around, masking my fear
that it may snake around and bite.
No. I will face it head on,
for it has no power
It is time for me to understand battle,
to array all of truth on my side
and not grant hidden force or mystery to evil,
but lay it bare and let it shrivel in the light.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 24, 2018
Light rests on every life,
a gentle touch, a lifting breeze,
present reminder
of what makes our spirits rise
It shines amidst the bustle —
Whether noticed or ignored,
it is still there, and everyone
can feel it. Eventually, their inward light
will insist, and they will look up.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 21, 2018
Now that I’ve found this place
I will not go out,
I will not go back
to the world where everything
is always sliding down,
and everyone is trying
to claw their way up
I will stay here,
and though I’m told the dogs of doom
will still snap at my heels,
I will not be moved.
I will hold to the vision
until all who fight against it
are transformed, and glide gratefully
into this truth.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 1, 2018
Let me wrap myself
in the arms of the city,
let me hold its four sides close,
let it determine everything around me,
let us rise again within, in hope
No one needs to slide off the roof,
no one need be ground up in the cogs,
these things have never held a corner here,
they can’t pull any of us under
Let this light keep radiating outward,
let it light us inwardly, besides,
and chime across the afternoon
the truth that will uplift us,
and bless us soundly, here where we abide.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 30, 2018
While some are struggling
to be alive, others
are struggling to be real
It is the same struggle —
though it may seem poles apart,
it is the same need
And while some may envy others their ease,
and others may not know to envy
the vitality that rises from the quick
when the cut is close to the bone
In the end they will be saved
in the same flood of light.
It may even feel to them
like they saved each other.
This is the nature of the blessing.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 3, 2018