Tag Archives: transformation

Sleeping

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I’ve been sleeping for a long time —
sleeping as I walk through my day,
some old tune looping through my mind,
sleeping as I do the needed tasks
without feeling much of anything

I started thinking how it might feel
to be awake to see and notice
the living forces moving through the moments,
the swift imperative impelling every life

The world could open out in color,
the sky would sing, the air would dance,
all things would celebrate each other,
all breath would praise,
and all the earth would laugh

Now when I think of it,
I try to wake myself up,
at least a little,
at least for now.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 8, 2019

Student

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I am an eager student —
I pore over the text
as meaning pours in

Something deep inside
soaks it up, stretches out,
like roots, like leaves, like wings

This is not something
for me to tuck away,
to tell myself I may use later

This is breath, this is sight,
this is the sense of things,
these are my steps along
the present path of what I am.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 27, 2019

Summit

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You come back from the mountain
and what gets you is the day to day,
the small decisions and the interactions
that have the same ruts they had
when you were here before —
you think everything should be changed
but it isn’t

This is the challenge
greater than the summit —
to integrate the things you saw
into the fabric of every day,
to walk the same paths
but go up higher,
to taste the mountain air
right where you are.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 26, 2019

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

Ridge Line

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When we found ourselves walking
along the ridge line of bones,
landscape swept clean,
the symbols of comfort provision
suddenly gone,
what surprised us
was the singing,
the clear searing melodic
bowing across the edge,
core resonant vibration

We had thought
that if we lacked the cushion
we’d be bereft,
but there we were,
strengthened and heartened
by the haunting song
that filled our every step —
teaching ourselves to ourselves,
walking us home.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 9, 2019

Ways to open

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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

The Nature of Now

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This transformation
is like leaving the land,
stepping into the sea,
swimming into the depths offered,
former concerns forgotten

Let me grasp it
just in this little moment —
that will be enough.
I can stand on this moment
and ride out to eternity,
since that is, of course,
the nature of now.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 19, 2019

Changes

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The ice can go
as quickly as it came,
strong wind from the south
making waves, sending them
undulating under,
blowing shallow ripples over,
till it all washed ashore
to clink against the chunks of it
that still remained

I was surprised by the speed
that the spirited day
could change everything,
or at least this one thing
that seemed so solid,
holding up rocks
only an hour before.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 2, 2019

Purge

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Awaiting the cleansing
I catch myself bracing
for the onslaught of rushing water,
or is it fire? the truth so huge
it will purge me of everything
I thought was my substance, but isn’t

As if whoever that is, who braces
and anticipates, had anything
to do with me. No doubt
it will be among the first things
swept away, and then I’ll notice
that I was always
one with my creator.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 9, 2018

And Yet

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You can’t put weight on what’s falling,
can’t stomp your foot, can’t hope
to knock the bottom out and so fall through —
there’s no salvation in destruction
however much you’re longing
for some easier way to get out

And yet …
And yet …

Every honest step, every searching step,
every anguished and exhausted step,
regardless of directionality
will take you closer
to the amnesty you seek

We live in the field of absolute value
where you can’t take a negative step —
what’s upside down will be inverted,
what’s right side up will be purified

Don’t worry —
this is not dependent
on your will and prowess,
this is Truth
unfolding effortless in grace.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 20, 2018