I collect these moments like stars.
I can hold them in my hand.
Though they may be short blips in time,
they are as infinite
as what they reveal
For sparkling grace is this exactly —
the evidence in one small moment
of one great Truth,
big enough to guarantee
heart-waking beauty,
tender and wonderstruck alignment
in the unfoldment
of the perfect peace
of now.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 27, 2019
You were here
when the morning stars sang together,
you were here
at the foundation of the earth
When you know yourself as essence,
as what steps out in wonder
at the gifts of the day,
you can see that years
have never changed you,
and all the twists of circumstance
will always fail to knot you up
in some unfortunate condition
Your belovedness
is clear as light
and as immutable —
you don’t need to make yourself be anything —
you are here
And I will tell you this
every day, every hour,
as often as you need it,
and if I weren’t here
the day would still tell you the same thing.
The trees, the wind, the bright waves on the water
—they will tell you, and the birds will, too.
Listen, and you will hear.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 25, 2019
I looked for a way
to fill myself with stillness
like how the water birds
this early morning
bathed themselves in calm,
and I, watching them,
could breathe it in,
that centering
expansive as the whole pond
and all the sky
and the burnished sun
that rose softly
I needed that later
when the day was muted
and I rode in heaviness
despite the songs
I sang to myself
along the road
It didn’t come right away
but since I asked
and since I waited
and since Life is kind,
by the end of my ride
it came through.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 23, 2019
I will not let thee go, except thou bless me
Before they sing, the little birds
expand to almost twice their size,
taking the morning in,
filling themselves up
with what will be their song
so it expresses
all the joy and glory that they feel
You will be like that,
so deeply filled with what has saved you
that comfort will pour forth like birdsong,
blessing everyone who hears.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 22, 2019
I have a bag of tears
somewhere in my head,
I feel it jiggle with the bumps along the road,
maybe I’ll take it out
and drink some down,
water my memories
Oh my sweetest love,
I miss you in my future,
I miss your presence, too.
The water comes and takes away my footprints,
something like that sometime may take me, too
I found a feather
amidst my sobs along the sand,
so small and perfect —
I smoothed it with my hand,
and as I always do
I had to take it for a sign
I had to listen for your presence in my mind
“Didn’t I show you?” you said —
I answered, “yes, you did.”
“Then you will take to heart
that light-filled vision.
Your heaviness is like those clumps of snow
disappearing, dense because they’re melting.
“Take that feather
and learn to fly sometime,
get ready
to leave it all behind,
not that you’re going anywhere,
just being redefined —
that’s how I’ll see you on the other side.”
©Wendy Mulhern
February 21, 2019
I will protest the innocence
of every burdened soul,
however young or old,
who wakes with dread,
who meets the hours
in sinking sense of debt,
who thinks of years
in washes of regret
Those allegations
never pertained to you,
you children of the light —
you have been ever fueled
by something unindictable.
Your being is comprised
of an essence so radiant
it will shine you
right out of all the frames
into unspotted day.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 20, 2019
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
I stepped outside of privilege to recognize
death drags its claws through every family
with no regard for neatly supping
at one edge
Indeed, there never is a smooth progression —
life sends us scrambling up and down the crags,
wandering the canyons,
sometimes scaling mountains,
sometimes finding dark reclusive caves
And look, we are not shredded —
the cohesion of our lives
just pulls us closer,
re-knits our fabric,
fills the former holes with light
Though we be touched by death,
we are not conquered,
and so we learn a little more of life.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 18, 2019
Taking this in —
the steadying of the mind,
patient release of contradicting thoughts,
the focused honing
of concentration
I will learn like this,
move forward in the joy
of mastering this one most present thing
while keeping my attention open
so success won’t crash me,
but will let me move on smoothly
to what’s next.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 17, 2019
Others, too, have moments
of quiet beauty. Others, too,
feel the tingling lift,
Life revealing its most tender secrets,
Life compelling them
to give their gifts
Let me not think,
amid this shimmering unveiling,
that I must hurriedly proclaim it,
make it known,
for everyone is held in the unfailing
light through which these wondrous views are shown.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 16, 2019