Processes

Ridgecrest dawn

It is evening
but the skylights haven’t darkened yet —
clouds are still visible beside the cedar treetops,
moving east

My mind reaches into the boldening gloaming
where daylight is stretching
visibly longer than just last week.
I feel the lifting off of a forgotten weight,
like clarity after dizziness,
like fog condensing on my eyelids as it dissipates

There can be comfort
in the rolling out of time,
February’s fleetness,
the winds of spring,
the progress of all life’s processes,
underground, overhead,
within.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 7, 2016

Outlook

Vineyard Window

Some days are better than others,
some parts of days
better than other parts.
Some have highs and lows,
others blips of cogency
with intermittent gaps,
places where things seem
reasonable enough
but in retrospect
it is astounding
what I missed,
what I allowed.

There is no chart for this, however,
no beeping graph to mark the ups and downs —
it is subjective as the very moment
that frames my outlook —
it can change in an instant.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 4, 2016

Absolute Value

Gold Wave Reflection IV

In our lives,
only good is given —
The darkest shadow
is still just a shadow,
cast by something
so magnificent
we don’t know how to see it

Dark times are here to show
how deep the love
that reaches down to gather us.
We won’t remember them
as anything but light —
jewels of our journey,
guiding our paths.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 3, 2016

Vessel by Jennifer McCurdy, photos by Julius Friedman

Weight

piling

Still looking for the state of mind
where stones will float —
where the amazing heaviness —
the weight of a soul,
the depth of my caring —
will rise up
in the equipollence
of its brilliance,
lighting up itself
and all it shines on,
resting in the presence
of what it is
and the enduring gravity
of its essence.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 2, 2016

Endgame

Long dock

When I think of the endgame,
my breath catches,
time abandons the illusion
of moving at an orderly pace.
I wonder how my thought affects it,
if it will stop entirely
if I wait too hard

Is this like a waterfall
where the acceleration
is beyond my doing
and I will be swept along
regardless of my efforts?

Or is it like a long field
that I must walk,
and I will only get there
step by step,
no faster than the movement I initiate?

I don’t know. Some days
it feels like both at once.
My heart curls
toward a new beginning.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 1, 2016

Leave Taking

Leave taking

I leave you
in the hands of Love,
I trust Love’s knowing of you
to be the one most satisfying thing
I can imagine for you

I leave you
in the hands of Truth, knowing
there is no other source
of what you are,
and it establishes you
in dimensions I can’t even start
to fathom

Life holds you
in the comprehensive grace
that marks each one of its creations,
I leave you
knowing
you are never left alone.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 31, 2016

Vessel by Jennifer McCurdy, photo by Josh Liebowitz

Tending Fire

porcelain

porcelain

Ah, heat! The fire teaches us
it is the release
of all that we have gathered
that warms us, and warms others

In the provision
of what the fire requires,
I recognize my corresponding needs:
enough air and enough proximity
to hold the heat within the burning core

The satisfaction
of the steady flame
responding to my nudging
lends a glow to heart,
hearth, earth, home.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 28, 2016

Vessel by Jennifer McCurdy, photo by Gary Mirando

Take Heart

Green Lake late sun

Don’t be afraid —
There is no journey you can take,
no long night you can go through
where you will be abandoned
in the middle

In your tiredest moment,
at the coldest hour,
in the bleakest outlook,
the most untoward turn,
hear your heart:
it doesn’t beat alone.
It pulses in response
to the eternal pulse of being,
indicating, thus, its steady presence

You will come through,
but you may feel at peace
before you’re even done,
for in each step
you are attended by the One.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 27, 2016