Author Archives: Wendy

Heaven

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heaven(Creative Etymology)

If heaven is the breathing of everything,
the generous heave of the earth,
the inspiration, the release
across the days, the months,
the seasons,
the ever-cycling peace,
the renewal that comes back around,
inciting curls of growth,
currents rising and branching,
sending new life ever outward,
ever inward

Then it is heaven
to move just like this,
in concert with the breathing
of earth and sea, of sky and stars,
where everything has room
for its own unfolding,
where everything is held
and everything is free.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 3, 2016

Manna

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sun on winter trees

The sheen of sun on winter trees,
the gentle scrish of frost underfoot,
the taste of ice crystals and
the moss on which they grew,
the smell of rotted cabbage

The subtle sinking into
the movement of the moment,
the easy harmonizing
of glance and gesture,
the flash appreciation of a color palette,
the warmth that radiates
from trunks of trees

These are the gifts of the day
and the new year,
gifts, like manna,
collectible every day,
nourishing the present,
allowing tomorrow’s hunger
to fend for itself.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 2, 2016

Solid Ground

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frosty ground

I keep walking
and my steps grow firmer
as my trusts grow truer

I left behind the slippery trust
in the touted plums of living —
the narrow measures of success,
the things to brag about at parties

And then I had some other trusts —
the smooth progression of my life’s trajectory,
indefinite enduring of relationships —
dear trusts that failed me, too

And when I let them go,
I find something else underneath everything:
There may be many names for it,
but none that truly name it.
I sink in, and touch my feet
to solid ground.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 31, 2015

Walking Through

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Hileman Jan '14

I will stand my ground,
and if the sand shifts beneath me
I will settle my feet in again,
I will lean into the wind
and I will not be desolate

I will close my eyes
and blink into the knowing
of what holds me strong and steady,
I will wrap myself
in the practical rise
to the moment’s exigencies,
the mantle of resolute calm
for an unknown course
and many miles to travel

I will walk on through,
for there is no other way.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 30, 2015

Let it Go

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winter birch

Well, you don’t hold up the world
by worrying, so let it go,
let it go

Seeds in the ground
don’t need your exhortations
to bide their time
and spring forth when they’re needed

And your body
doesn’t need you telling it to breathe,
telling it to beat its steady rhythm

Let it go, let it go

Everything comes home,
in its time. Even the venturing out
is part of it, part of the
ever-growing claiming and reclaiming
of its own —
its place in the divine dance of being.
It will do so without your worrying —
let it go.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 29, 2015

Starting Over

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bricks

They often wished
they could start over again —
debts cancelled, unfortunate words
retracted, sideways first impressions
wiped away

They had the feeling
if they could only be seen
in their true light,
they would be understood,
if they were given a chance,
they could convey their true regard

Let us then consider:
Others have wished this
as much as we have.
Let’s give them a chance
to start over.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 28, 2015

Year’s End

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windy beach

There is, perhaps, a moment
for looking back along the year,
calling to remembrance
the things that were unknown,
the things we thought might be
before events rolled out their tracks,
other possibilities extinguished
by emerging facts

There’s always time
for flashes of gratitude
for what has developed —
understanding, skills acquired,
brightening deepening streams of love

There’s less time for wistfulness
at things left behind —
the wind here blows strong and steady,
bearing us onward
in our present purpose.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 27, 2015

Covered

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rain reflection

There is a love deep enough
to reach your very lowest point,
to wrap you up and hold you
tender, safe

There is a love that answers
generations of woe,
long legacies of dashed hopes,
intransigent injustice

There is a love for which
the wildest writhings
of your struggling heart
are no problem

You don’t have to be
small and polite
to qualify for Love’s covering —
don’t have to assume
you only get a small blanket

There is a love that can heal
all of your memories,
all of your doubts
all of your fears for the future

Here is love for you:
whatever you need,
you are covered.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 26, 2015

Foundation

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gray sound

Let me pause long enough
to find gravity,
internal cohesion,
the natural pull
to sink me
all the way down
to the silence

Though there be frenetic raging
on the surface,
though turbulent currents
attend my descent,
it will get quieter
as I go deeper

And I will find the settled peace
that undergirds everything,
I will sit still
and feel its radiance
rising in rays
until it lights and calms the whole.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 24, 2015

Traveling

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look up at trees

We roll by each other
in our steel boxes,
bound by the road
to a similar course,
each in a separate world
(a metaphor for how we move through life)

In each car, a mind,
each mind a mirror for the infinite,
each one a pool, unsearchable in depth,
and in each depth,
an ever-burning love

In each love, an endless store of strength,
a balance weight, a source of clear direction,
the thrilling, searing certainty
of being worthy, sovereign

So this is how we save the world,
not by riding up along the road,
but in the vertical connection
that holds us, perfect, to our source.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 23, 2015