The heaping apple cart
tips over, the rolling hopes and expectations
jostle and fall,
bounce along roads,
lost to us now
We can’t even begin
to gather them back,
and the cart is broken anyway,
one wheel following the apples down
careening and ringing like a coin
And it makes no sense to us
to go back, to start over —
What would it be to us, at this point?
So in the aftermath
we wait to be lifted,
our lives to be borne
along a different arc.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 10, 2018
“Prove me now herewith” —
For they are indeed open,
present in everything that fills with light,
waiting in the spaces
between our expectations
Windows of heaven
ready to pour forth such brightness,
such soul-gracing truth
that all our limitations dissolve.
We step across the threshold
caught up in glory.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 9, 2018
Dust and pollen have sifted
through the quiet air,
the soft breezes,
warm and wistful,
have lifted
the scent of lilacs
and brought it here
I will reach through this
drifting afternoon,
to find the prayer
that knows the heart
of all these living things,
and brings me there,
where I, too, can know
my core and highest cause,
where I, too, can be the message
long awaited, gladly shared.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 8, 2018
Alone, I find myself drifting
in some odd space between hunger and tears.
The day is benign, and everything is breathing —
Clearly, it all knows that breath is gratitude,
and that it’s enough to fully engage with it,
taking in and releasing
in the dance of mutual blessing
It almost seems I could join with it.
It almost seems like something I could never leave,
something I have never left.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 7, 2018
It’s not an ace in the hole,
it’s not a way to win in this world,
it can’t be used to gain advantage
When you emerge into the radiance
of the great and tender Allness,
you forget those things anyway,
being so caught up
in the unfolding singularity
of each joy-touched moment,
each amazing new awareness
You won’t be able to look back and measure,
but you won’t care, either,
leaving the false for the true.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 6, 2018
We know you will go on,
we know you will keep learning,
and we can consider
that you will share
your inspirations and your joys with us,
just as you did before
We will go on,
we will keep learning,
so we’ll have things to share
next time we come together,
when we meet again.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 4, 2018
Every place we go back to, it seems,
presents another flood,
and surely it will cleanse us
and maybe it will drown us —
we can’t know until we go there
and go through —
there is no other way out
So we will hold each other’s hands,
we’ll go together,
we’ll be grateful for each sandbag
that kind people have thrown out
to shore us up, to lend support,
whether or not they feel they understand
We will go through —
who knows what
will be on the other side —
where we are now is all that we can know.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 3, 2018
What will you do with this?
Mothers — take it, use it to love your children
even more than you have before,
Fathers, use it as a way
to deepen grace, to find your footing
in the place where your nobility
touches ground
Brothers, sisters, friends —
use this to remember
how tender and how tensile
is your connection to each other,
how paramount it is
to keep these ties
awake in your heart
All of you — take this bright gift,
this strong release of light,
this nourishment of life —
use it to celebrate
our common source
and the fountain of our days.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 2, 2018
In the pearly deep blue Allness
you can’t fall. Or rather,
none of your fallings matter —
it catches you, cradles you,
sees you clean, rekindles your light,
sets in order everything that slipped
In the starry endless Allness
you can’t fail. Or rather,
none of your failings matter.
The Love that loves you
never is impressed
by any of those sorry frames.
The Love that loves you
always sees you clear.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 30, 2018
Family folds us in
in ways we didn’t know we could expect,
nets of connection bear us up,
many arms embrace us
So the mending begins,
of holes we mostly can’t even see,
things that must be obvious to others —
places we are leaking,
Why we seem to need to keep sleeping,
simple tasks that seem impossible —
At some time we will have to rise up
and reassume our former mantles.
But for now we’ll let ourselves be held
circled up in other people’s care.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 29, 2018