Tag Archives: worth

In the flame

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At the darkening edges,
far, as it may seem, from embers’ warmth,
we may start to forget
what holds us all together

We may need to take a journey
back to where we are transformed,
burned but not consumed,
held up as torches,
where the constant fire that pours from us
becomes our definition

And we cease to squabble
about the forms we take,
or who has more potential
or what brought us down to ash,
because we know that all of us,
whenever we step out,
are caught up in the flame,
becoming light.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 14, 2020

Chores on the Land

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We spent three days
thwarting the plans of tansy,
pulling it by the roots,
cutting its yellow heads,
filling the plastic bags

There was time in the work for thinking –
how you spend so much of your life
trying to prove
to yourself and to others
that you are worthy,

And when you discover
your worthiness never was doubted,
always was secure,
there’s still a sweet desire
to be of service,
to lend your gifts
to the great unfolding
of every day.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 22, 2020

Coinage

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They found themselves a little reluctant
to part with their coinage,
dear bought as it was, fraught with
wrenching choices and sacrifice
and the tippy balance point
of fate and luck. They’d be happy
to give up their losses,
but maybe not their wins,
so they held on, though the corrosion
hurt them

They needed to get a sense of
what they wouldn’t lose
and what they’d gain
by letting go of all that they were grasping,
to feel, instead, the dawn upon their foreheads,
the bright glow that smoothed their brows,
the kindling excitement of laying hold
on that darting liquid light
of true worth.
Then they would know,
then they could let go.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 1, 2017

Inner Light

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early morning, late August

Here is the inner shimmer
that glimmers for as long
as I can keep attention centered,
the concentrated glow of knowing
this is a power that will burn off
anything that doesn’t share its essence

(Nearly as a side effect,
I see the sordid stories,
almost comic in how unbelievable
they now appear. How could it be
that I accepted them
and let them hobble me
for such a long time?)

Here is the truth:
our worth is infinite —
it isn’t measured and it isn’t limited,
it isn’t earned and can’t diminish,
can’t be lost or stolen,
swindled or betrayed

Our worth establishes
the law of kindness —
we can’t see anyone as any less.
We must embrace them
in all the fervor
that now arises in the joy
of this eternal inner light.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 5, 2016

Reminders

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Greenlake twilight

Maybe the way I seem to need
to be reminded again and again
is not unlike the looping questions
from the old man of the house:

Where are we?
How long have I been here?
When am I going home?

And maybe my Source is just as patient
with the replies, over and over again:

You are worthy and beloved
You have always been here
You are home

And if I soared yesterday
and sink today, even if yesterday, really,
was not that long ago, and I felt sure
I’d never forget it,
I still seem to need reminding:

You are worthy and beloved
You have always been here
You are home.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 25, 2016

Your Worth

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outreach

Your house doesn’t matter,
Nor even (or especially)
the coral construct you have built
from all your interactions,
all your habits of relating,
all your skills (or lack thereof)

Your living self is found
in the act of darting out
from that hard castle,
making the bold or resolute
(or kind, compassionate)
leap into the space outside your fortress

That’s where you find love,
that’s the compellingly lovable
essence of you,
irresistible, sensitized, delicious —
That is the truth of you
that really feels,
that loves, that heals —
That is your gift, your soul,
your worth.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 8, 2015