I watched how the sun
sifted through the firs,
how it dappled the eager forbs,
stretching out long
after months as ground cover
I felt how the warmth was bestowed
in the precise places where the sun hit,
and I considered how precise
my thought must also be,
to pick out truth
and not slop over into lies,
and how sun-like this practice really is,
the bright places and the shadows
all basking in the overflow of grace.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 27, 2021
I had to rein myself in.
My thoughts kept trotting down,
happy enough,
the old and well worn path,
the path of being right,
and maybe funny, imagined approbation
from imagined others,
who, presumably,
shared those sensibilities
of right and wrong,
clever and in
I had to stop.
The juice I thought I gained
from such a posture
cannot sustain me,
doesn’t have the nourishment
I need, will not ultimately lift me
in the way I am
when I am still,
when I am still and listen.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 26, 2020
You could say we were
victims of our beliefs
or rather
victims of our unbelief —
the subtle closing of the doors of thought,
restricting flow, though we rail
against the blockage
Still we’re looking for the ways to open —
how at will, or through some method,
or by some yet-to-be-revealed incantation
or transformation,
we receive the flood of inspiration
that makes us understand,
that makes us whole.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 16, 2019
My places of gratitude are many —
this chair, this lamp, this dark night,
comfort of companionship
and this vast realm of thought
where music can bring images
and luminous ideas can dart
in swift, branching lines,
delineate new order
and make a framework
for understanding everything.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 8, 2017
In order to take off,
thought needed
a bit more of a runway,
enough space between the tasks
to gain continuous speed,
(the weight of thought being
ponderous as it is)
In order to be caught
thought needed to soar first,
far enough that its arc of sparks
could be seen
That was the story, at least,
that was told
to account for the silence —
thought, of course,
made the whole thing up.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 4, 2017