What is true about this day –
smoke filled, a sullen oven,
suffocating yellows, wan sun
still punishing?

What is true? – the conflicts
and the inner raging? A sinking sense
of falling down in flame, face of futility,
large numbers of enumerated fears?

Or is it the intelligence I see standing
in the stands of trees surrounding our abode?
And every living thing, which,
with its being, affirms the present mindfulness? – And so remains alert,
and can’t be swept up
in mindless conflagrations

In this awareness, I briefly glimpse
the basis of true fearlessness  –
Love which is Mind
holding every mote in place,
intelligently placed
to form the priceless whole.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 14, 2023