Fruits

summer squash

We each have struggled,
each have been isolated
and felt our path was long and hard
and that we’d failed somehow
to gain what we had hoped for
and thought had been expected of us

We had failed
or been let down
in some cruel twist or some trick test —
so many promises
left unfulfilled

But look at us here —
We’ve all come to this place
where we are bathed
in a glow cast by our own light.
We haven’t failed —

All this time
we were each following our own course
along the unerring imperative
that now dissolves all that darkness,
revealing our sweet fruits.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 17, 2015

Open Flight

open flight

I let out all my breath,
I pause,
wait for the touch point,
wait for where I can catch
the feeling and the timing
of your breath rising
so I can ride up with you
to the high ledge
and perch there till you’re ready
to swoop down

With every breath
I’m reaching inward
through the layers of our facades,
our constructs,
feeling for the inner contact
where we have flown
under the barriers
and can soar freely
in the vast common realm
where we have seen each other,
recognized our respective infinities,
have been seen by each other.
Ah, bliss! — open flight
in the pure laughter of recognition,
in the silvered harmony
of inner song.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 16, 2015

So many people

hidden light

So many people go through life
without ever having written a symphony,
without ever doing a cartwheel,
without ever knowing what it feels like
to be free

So many people (or so it’s said)
have never known true love,
have never felt the exaltation
of the egoless willingness
to be a blessing
and having that fulfilled

People go through life
buying expectations for themselves
from the shelves of sanctioned social options,
wearing them, though they don’t fit,
eating them, though they don’t nourish,
hardly noticing the pressure of the light within
as it attempts to free itself and shine

But by and by
the light will win,
spill out of some chink,
overwhelm them
as it bursts forth
revealing all the vastness of their being
where they don’t go through life —
they really live.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 14, 2014

This light

spring elm

This light
doesn’t need a story —
doesn’t need reasons why it shines,
doesn’t have things that could put it out

The stories about it —
what it requires to keep on shining,
how just a few tweaks could make it much brighter,
how it’s some rare gift for which I’m most lucky
are not true

This light
may shine through stories
but can’t be captured by them.
They can illustrate it
but not snuff it out
And if I follow it
to where it springs from,
I’ll never lose my way again.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 13, 2015

This day, too

chain link fence

What kind of day is it
that can be summed up as
“Well, I got through that”?

Yes, the relief feels good
and there’s accomplishment involved,
But what’s that good for?
Can’t I do better?

When I play things back
along the light lines,
the words and smiles exchanged with strangers
and the bright threads
of continuing connection
flashing up again
in conversations with family and friends

I see there’s been more
than needful duty,
more than the dull familiarity
of other bodies as we all are herded,
more than the sub-thought comfort
of trodden pathways —
this day, too
has had its worth.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 12, 2015

Morning’s Edge

morning reflections

Overlapping images of dreams
shimmer like rippling scales
in the backdrop of my mind.
Some have words and laughter,
some shift into each other
bringing up absurdities

It’s easy enough
to stay here entertained
and not get up
though duties nudge dully
at the borders of my thoughts

Each of these images
could tell a whole story,
lead me on a whole journey
if I just let myself
(for just a little longer)
slip under.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 11, 2015

Going Through

marcola morning fog

I anticipate your coming transformation
as if it were my own,
which indeed it will be
in an important way

You’ll go through
and see things in new light —
everything you see, including me.
So when I see you,
how you see me
will make me witness everything
clearer, brighter, deeper

You’ll bring your candle to the circle
and we all will stand
flickering and exultant
while our great collective prayer
rises in the center
to the stars.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 10, 2015

Self reflection on struggling with this month’s book club selection

bookclub bookIt wearies me to read of World War II —
puts me to sleep —
the plans and strategies, initiatives and blunders
Yet I get caught up hoping for “our side” —
I wonder . . .

Though I’ve been too sophisticated
to be self-satisfied in comfort, in my privilege,
though I’m aware how very far
this country is from free,
What have I risked
in my armchair condemnation
of the bland rule of corporatocracy?

How am I strong?
How does my daily life uphold
a sense of freedom, justice, decent life for all?
Where is my courage?
And how would I fare
if we were faced with homeland war?

©Wendy Mulhern
May 9, 2015

United

uphill

The task we brace against,
leaning together,
will forge our bond,
The brisk headwind and steady climb
will make us strong

We have no exercises,
retreats or seminars
(though we can see their value
with our resting mind)
Our work has captured up our dedication,
all of our energies therein aligned

This work is ours
and so we grow it
as trees grow limbs —
Its form arises
(ever surprising us)
from secret depths
where generative essences
reside within.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 8, 2015

Every Living Thing

spring maples

Every living thing desires
to clasp hands with another,
desires to feel the interchange of juices,
to be strengthened
by what they give
and what flows back,
to feel potentials multiply

Every living thing desires communion,
to nourish and be nourished
by the whole,
Every living thing
fulfills the call of Life like this —
We can’t deny it —
We know what we want.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 7, 2015