January 20, 2021

In the breathing of this nation
we can feel
deep desire
for reconciliation,
to be healed –
not that wrongs be covered  –
that they be revealed
so we can end our unmoored
drifting through illusions

Let us wash the disfiguring ignorance
from our hands, from our faces,
and be weaned from our dependency
on things that curate chasms.
We have sinned, yes, we have sinned,
but let it not be hidden from us –
we, too, can find within,
the strength to rise
with a refusal to be herded,
to be lied to,
to be deceived because it’s easy

Even when it’s hard,
the truth is cleaner and more bracing,
more health giving than what we have been fed.
Today we stand together
in the willingness
to live inclusive unity instead.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 20, 2021

A New Song

sea-wall

We need a new music
and a new story —
This is not reality TV

This is the heart-gulp step
into the silent vestibule,
this is the waiting
for the summons of a chord tuning

This is the voice that rises
as if unbidden
from the depths of our longing
to reverberate,
to weave harmony,
to amplify the signal
that belongs to us and everyone

To sing this song
that hasn’t been imposed on us,
that rises from our fundamental frequency
and raises us
in grateful unity
as our collective voice
bounds out in light years
among the stars.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 13, 2016