Author Archives: Wendy

Willing

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I am so willing
to learn the way of all goodness!
Let me be vigilant
about the small inner voices
that snarl and sulk
and try to hang onto
constructs that I never wanted anyway

They say they are defending me
but what they are defending
is not me — it’s only all the stories
of my limitations

Where what I am
is the stream of dear belonging
to all goodness, the reflection
of the eternal shining love
I’m ever drawn to

And what I am
doesn’t need defending,
it just needs shining,
just needs my full attention every day.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 24, 2017

Losing Weight

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It has not cost me anything
to let go of worry.

When I consider
the collective effort
of so many of us
to lose weight,
I marvel
at why more people
haven’t noticed this one —
the great lightness that lifts us
when we recognize
the perfect order
of all things living
(including us)
has been established
and doesn’t need
to be worried into place.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 22, 2017

Prayer on a Rainy Hilltop

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Guide me, Truth of all that is,
let me not be taken by these lies,
let me not feel trapped,
let me not succumb
to any of my former strategies

Guide me, Life that’s daily new,
million ways of upward growth,
the ever-folding pathways for connection,
intertwine me through and through,
let me breathe your fragrance, too,
let your loving law be my protection

Guide me, everlasting Love,
give me kind and healing touch,
let me witness your almighty power,
let me be a member
of the bliss-fulfilling choir
that lifts us all and blesses
every day, each hour.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 20, 2017

Hand in Hand

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Everything drained out of the day
with the early rain —
our warmth, our prospects —
and we were left empty
in the isolation
of the cold dampness

But then quickly
the substance began to return,
the sense of walking hand in hand
with infinity,
feeling the sustenance flow in,
filling the spaces between
our needy queries
and the non answers

Until finally, in the clearing
in the late afternoon,
we were rich in all the places
we had felt bereft —
we could offer
warmth to others,
and sweet dreams,
and confidence
that every need is met.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 18, 2017

Rain

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Rain on the windshield,
people in the parking lot
walking with their choice of
hurried, cringing, or nonchalant

I imagine rain
soaking into their sweatshirts,
I’m hoarding warmth
as my parked car cools down

People find ways to survive
or they don’t. They find resilience,
they choose laughter, or they let rain
soak into their bones
and let their spirits be dampened

Me, I’ve done both.
It’s a choice I make
in all those times
where I’m not immediately overwhelmed
by some external magnificence,
when it’s up to me
to bring my shine into the day.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 17, 2017

Tone Deaf

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Some time afterwards,
the niggling suspicion knocks,
flounces its way in,
sets its baggage down,
and I start to conclude
I have been tone deaf

Certainly not for the first time,
though I had hoped these incidents
had mostly tapered off,
as has my former swift self castigation

I am a little sorry, yes,
but also curious —
what internal constructs
led to the little gaffe, which rolled out
with such ease and comfort?
Where could my mind be, next time,
to reduce the risk of doing this again?

Ah, let me be included
in the grand forgiveness
that Life gives each of us
as we come home,
where we serenely know
we never fail each other
when in the consciousness of being one.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 14, 2017

The Language of Light

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I’m learning the language of light.
Like all languages, it takes practice,
it takes immersion,
and there’s a great sense of victory
when I dream in it

I’m learning the language of light,
just a few words at a time —
the names, for example,
that people have for themselves,
a name, perhaps, that they
forbid themselves to use
but wait in deep longing
for someone else to speak it to them

The verbs, also,
like soar and lilt
and rise, and meet,
and own your truest name

I’m learning the language of light
from countless tutors, large and small,
the flash of a moment, the steady care of years.
Though my words are halting
I say them anyway,
for that’s the only way to really learn.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 13, 2017

A Right Estimation

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Let no child be told
she is average
(or above average
or special needs
or genius)

Let no child be weighed
among other children,
measured against them,
given a score

Let us teach ourselves
that finding out about another —
the nuances of thought, the joy,
the brilliance —
is a work of art for every individual —
it can’t be done in batches
and it can’t be done
without abundant love

This is life we’re dealing with, after all —
surging and primal, not to be trifled with,
not to be dismissed.
This is life,
larger than anything else we’ll ever know.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 12, 2017

Sentience

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I emerge from sleep
into the bright light river
of sentience — I feel its keen flow,
delighted in presence,
poised and pleased
to cleave to its Life Source
along the rapid roaring course
of celebration and discovery

This being
is the only one that matters,
the only one that powers
the aliveness that my soul
longs for every day.
I endeavor to stay here,
bring this awareness
into my every move,
into my every breath.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 10, 2017