Each of us grasps at the sweet threads –
filaments of possibility –
hoping they will pull us
into the deep source
They trail from hopes, from stories,
which tell of how to catch them,
but if we fail to win the stories’ ending,
there’s no need to despair –
those endings may deliver fine true love,
but the sweetness also is right here,
and we can feel it everywhere.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 28, 2023
At day’s end
my step is light,
my head is clear
(if rather empty)
I haven’t stowed
things I couldn’t say,
I haven’t worried,
I haven’t tried to solve
someone else’s problems,
or taken in ill-fitting attributions
I’ve been open to the knowing
which accompanies all being,
I have taken on good tasks
and brought them to completion,
there has been joy, there has been laughter,
there has been kindness –
I am content, for that has been enough.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 17, 2023
Satisfaction floods like sun breaks,
full redemption for squallish complaints –
I step outside crowned with it,
for we are here,
and here is where we most want to be
and what we most want to be doing
Fruition comes in many stages –
well before blossoms, the evening light
can be a joy harvest,
the exaltation of new green
is also a kind of fruit.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 19, 2022
Twilight sets in at 4:30,
and with it, rain, and satisfaction
at having used the day well,
being outside and moving projects forward
as weather allowed, being ready now
to shift into indoor tasks
and inward work,
rich in the light and heat we gathered
in the brighter moments of the day.
©Wendy Mulhern
November 10, 2021
Today I felt the satisfaction
of taking the long way,
the path without shortcuts –
the value of chores that send me outside,
the pleasure of each step
that brings me into contact
with the creatures of the land,
their daily lives
Today I felt the satisfaction
of building a bench that we needed,
from old wood we used for the forms
for the house’s foundation,
with tools and techniques that I’ve learned
through these years
And above all, today,
I was satisfied
to feel companioned by my source,
to feel release from thinking
I was on my own.
Today I reaped the gentle joy
of walking in the harmony of Life.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 16, 2021
Slowly we start to learn
that we are sustained,
not by the things we produce,
but by the engagement
of our hands, the grasp
of our minds, the tenacity
with which we hold on
to the flowing life source –
the attention we pour in,
giving ourselves to the curiosity,
the work, the play, the follow through
that brings these things to light.
©Wendy Mulhern
August 10, 2021i
The page is blank as evening settles in,
my pen marks are still visible,
but not the words
I sit here in the glaze
of tiredness and satisfaction,
waiting for the images to sketch the day
I have the pleasure
of being kind to bees,
and holding kind thoughts
towards everyone I can imagine –
in my mind, I stand up for their sovereignty,
I send encouragement
for their enlightened clarity
And here at home
we have a new peace,
new ease in our communication –
this is what’s given,
and I will take it freely,
this taste of heaven
in the last glow of the day.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 9, 2021
I start to see
that what’s forbidden
is a directionality –
seeking out what’s good for me
And that what satisfies
inclines the other way –
I find myself in seeking
what I’m good for
And what I’m good for
is being what I am,
and what I am
bears witness to what’s true,
and what is true is Life –
its uncontainable exuberance,
and Life is what I love,
and what loves me.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 7, 2021
Try this out, just for a moment –
being satisfied with what you are –
not in contrast to any others,
not in reference to a former self
Inhabit this – and not as an exception –
Have reference only to your present self –
What you are is just what feeds this moment
with the delight that glints through all its folds
This is enough! In fact, it’s overflowing –
Let its lightness billow through your form,
let it lift you up and take you flying –
you can come back down
any time you want.
©Wendy Mulhern
November 15, 2020
It was everything you ever wanted,
It was nothing you ever outlined,
It was the magic content
of all the things you thought
were most desirable,
which those things sometimes delivered
but could never guarantee
It was a thing that had no name,
for all the names had been used up
on things you thought could maybe
(if you were lucky,
or if you were smart)
give you what you wanted
When you found it,
for a long time you were speechless –
How could you talk about
something that was everything,
that satisfied your every hope?
©Wendy Mulhern
April 5, 2020