Things unravel
that were never fiber,
that turn out not to have
even the substance of thread
or the chain of a story
They dissolve like dreams in the morning,
and my footing, too, must realign itself
to day’s dimensions, to gravity’s
orientation
Every unraveling is a reveal –
that which is there after it’s gone
will teach us substance.
Our being there after it’s gone
shows us our place.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 6, 2022
Things go through changes –
clouds turning in on each other
drifting beyond the wires,
moon in its cycles,
changing its timing and size
Some processes are light
and some are forceful –
wind and gravity,
flood and fire
And in their crucible,
that which never changes
emerges pure,
again and again remembered,
transfigured, rendered …
It is the same with us,
these days, these seasons,
as we sweep through these great flows
and reemerge.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 12, 2022
When freed from their shells
the gifts course through you,
providing structure
responsive as trees,
springing with their corded light
to bud as life,
remaining in your memory
as part of who you are
These gifts can’t miss or fade –
they will multiply
in what you are
and what you give in turn.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 8, 2022
Joy is our carbon,
what we pull from air,
what we use to grow our essence,
what we use to make home
and sanctuary,
shelter and support
for all that we hold dear
We pull joy from the air
and give off that which blesses
other life, and, too, ourselves
Everything we’ve ever made
we’ve made from joy –
it is our gift, our legacy, our contribution.
Joy’s traces will forever show
where we have lived.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 28, 2022
I hear of dark matter
and I think “doesn’t matter”
and I hear of anti-matter
and I want to use the term
for things I shouldn’t think about –
things that not only don’t matter
but do harm with their vacuity,
distracting my mind from noticing
what I really need to see
I won’t even mention them now,
for though you think you want to know,
I won’t be responsible
for magnifying things
I wouldn’t want to think about
when there is so much wonder
that can otherwise
occupy your thought.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 31, 2021
One is eating daily of the manna,
Two is understanding what it means,
Three is being nourished by the bright truth
of being loved too deeply
ever to be dropped
Four is growing with the promise
that every wilderness provides –
that you are never empty when you look up,
that you can trust your ever present guide
Five is the steady rain of blessings,
Six, unstoppably, is the desire to share,
Seven, resting as the gift multiplies –
the shining truth of substance always there.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 17, 2021
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
In the dream, the little girl
pulled the shining life jewels
right out of the air,
and when others scrambled for them,
reaching out in desperation
for the ones that pulsed with power,
she seemed surprised. “It’s right here,”
she said. She opened up her hand
and pulled out more
On waking, and in latter days,
I find that what she said is true —
It’s right here — infinity of life power
waiting to be pulled out from the air,
waiting to be lived.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 18, 2019
The river calls its tributaries —
they are drawn to the flow —
all water follows
by virtue of what it is
Of water moved by Spirit
we are formed, we are born,
we are borne along the course prepared
Of water and of Spirit
we find ourselves
new as this breath,
steady as the presence of the infinite.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 7, 2019
Health springs up
from the same place
that life springs up,
from the same source
of all thought
which is all action
You spring up
every day, every moment,
from the source of yourself
which is infinite
And nothing can be placed
except as it is thought,
except as it is known
and as it’s loved
And nothing blocks
the power of presence,
nothing can impede
the All That Is.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 9, 2019