Author Archives: Wendy

Coming Home

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tree-to-tree

With great relief, we set aside
the screen of judgment,
and with great awe
in that ungridded space,
we find the light emerging
from within us,
from within each other,
we find the bonding chords
to sing our unity

And we pass under,
the signal coming with us, tree to tree,
presenting presence, here and here and here
along the trail,
the bright reminder of this arc of circles,
connecting network spreading out
as far as we can think

This, now, is home,
the one we’ve always longed for,
this is what we own,
this is our sense of peace.
This is our home
we share with all that lives,
boundless embrace
which we never leave.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 17, 2016

What’s Real

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beach-locusts-winter

I feel what’s real
has been here all along —
it sometimes stood in shadow
beside everything that we were striving for

And sometimes in our clamor
we would wholly mute it out,
and sometimes in our prayer
it would sift in,
subtle as light between branches
lapping limb shadows
across the other trees,
coming into quiet focus, recognized as substance
by the joy that rises, and the fullness

And happiness turns out to be so simple,
not needing anything but presence —
presence and welcome, kindness and acceptance,
the free gift of loving you
just because you’re here,
the many-dreamed essence suddenly clear.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 16, 2016

Old Photos

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heather-and-eric-97-cropped

I sit here in this winter afternoon
with time laid down in multiple exposures,
coming round to end of year,
softly tugged by nineteen-year-old photos

With carols on the stereo to knit the years together
and drafts around the windows to remind me of the weather
and nothing, really, that I need to do in here and now
except my heart’s deep preparation for eternity

Those friends, who were such sweetness in our lives back then
are gone from us, except in memory,
those little faces, and the strength of love they pulled in us —
they are still dearly loved, though not the same

And we approach a Christmas where we won’t see them
and we’ll put no decorations in the house
as we look for something often sought but found seldom
to fortify ourselves for time to come —
the perfect peace to bring this world safely through its changes,
to play our part in witnessing the birth of truth.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 15, 2016

Winter for the Seeds

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sycamore

The little seeds are nestled
in a sphere of fluff
which can be pulled apart.
The fluff, though soft,
begins to burr into my fingers
as I rub the seeds free

The posts say I need to
make winter for the seeds,
need to keep them cold and damp
until they calculate
winter is done — now, if it gets warm
it’s safe to sprout

They describe it in terms of hormones
but I tuck the seeds in, I talk to them.
Who am I to say what kind of wisdom
has not been passed down,
mother to many future children,
grand dappled limbs
coursing the message of life,
roots to crown, earth to atmosphere,
the record of many winters
to inform this one that will now come for the seeds,
packed and labeled in my refrigerator.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 14, 2016

photo by Edward Mulhern

Spirit Rising

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lake-light-through-trees

And when the day’s duties
conspire to exclude
the deep reflective pauses,
Spirit still seeps through

In the cooking, in the caring for an elder,
in the ready presence to consult, to listen,
through the low winter light
through clouds, through windows,
and the quick arc of a short day
with its long darknesses at the edges

Spirit seeps into consciousness
like tide rising
because it belongs there
and can’t be left out.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 12, 2016

Redemption

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hand-and-heart

I want to tell about the way I feel,
I want to tell about how quickly
the circle of peace spread through me,
how warm and safe I felt,
how the glow reached in powerfully
to light up all the places in my past
that had been sorry,
to make them right, to fill them up with joy

I didn’t know till then that my redemption
could reach in that far,
but now I see
it had to cover everything,
had to halo everyone,
for no one can remain outside
the all-embracing Truth in which we live.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 11, 2016

I Woke Up Grateful

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persimmon-in-snow

I woke up grateful
because good is the only power
and in my struggle
against all that is evil,
I don’t need to take
a mean-spirited stance,
don’t need to commune
with comeuppance
or deal in retaliation,
don’t need disgust
or even indignation

I woke up grateful
that the best I can do
is to fill my soul with
the presence of goodness.
When fighting hate with love,
love is what counts

Love effortlessly deconstructs
the structures of oppression,
love casts no one as villain
but liberates us all
from the mazes of pain

I woke up grateful
that the work of my day
is so joyful, so boundless —
to let Love lead me,
to eagerly follow.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 10, 2016

Lessons

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morning-snow-10th-ave-ne

These things are revealed to me
day by day:
the freedom that is possible,
and, too, the webs that trap us
and trick us into actions we don’t want

None of us desire to oppress each other,
none of us desire to offend,
none of us desire to be stupid or obtuse,
each of us would rather be a friend

We feel the need to clamor to be heard,
we feel the need to strike back when we’re slighted,
we feel the need to see the balance tip toward justice,
we wonder how the others
can be so benighted

Such thoughts don’t free me, though.
Nor will any resolution I can make.
Let me attune to everyone’s desire
to be free to love. Let my life
show them that they are.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 9, 2016

Our Ride

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blackberryhawthorncottonwood

The key perception
is knowing what we ride on,
what holds the rolling forces
through which we move,
what keeps us full and vital
and in play

Then we’ll know it’s not dependent
on anything except the one infinity,
and how we’re held in sweet divinity,
wedded to the brightness of our days

And we won’t be frightened
by threats that we might lose
our source of comfort and protection,
or that the place where we belong
could fall away

For then we’ll stand up strong
against whatever may claim power,
ride steady and exhilarated
through the fray,
showing by our lives
the nature of our strength,
showing with our love
the winning way.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 17, 2016

How We Win

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seagull-at-carkeek

You never were
that lost and lonely soul
that fought back, kicking,
that raged and spat

You never were
that desperate, huddled one
that squeezed, eyes shut,
against a tiny crack,
too small to justify,
to big to hide

You’ve always been beloved,
you never needed to atone,
and all the demons
that wrought all kinds of havoc
in your name
must shrivel, powerless
before the truth that you can claim

This is how we win —
soul by soul, to patiently restore.
This is the beginning
to which we now return —
so let it stand,
so let us soar.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 6, 2016