Author Archives: Wendy

Season of Rainbows

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It is a season of rainbows

and sun breaks
So unexpected
against the darkness of the day
So easy to miss
in an instant of tunnel vision
And the bright patches
are too small, too short to bask in
Too wet to plan a picnic
or a bike ride
But in the moment
when their resplendent sheen
breaks across my sight
There is a warmth to it
a depth, a lift
that strikes some inner place
hitherto unnoticed
and lights it up.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 24, 2012


Step Two: Overcome Atomization*

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Oh comrades!
Look what has been done to us
The “news” reports of crime
the ever-broadcast warnings
so far more frequent 
than the actual events
inculcate, with alarm, their daily message:
“Fear your neighbor
Fear the foreigners — they hate you
Fear the poor — they want your stuff
Fear everything that’s not controlled by Us”

Other voices of “authority” chime in:
“Fear your body
Fear your inner voices
Fear your desires, distrust your heart’s choices
Look to us for your allotted goodness,
the very little you deserve.”

Comrades! Look what these words
have done to us
They’ve taken even this —
The names we had for fellowship —
Made them evil

But we can overcome and stand together
Conquer each internal fear
Engage our courage
with small displays of unity
Build up our trust
for each other, for ourselves
and for our goodness
We shall overcome
because we must.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 23, 2012

*From From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp


My bones

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The silent structure of support
makes no bones about its role
Doesn’t speak
Doesn’t have opinions
but stands a steady presence
making room
for currents to course through
Holding up the arcs of strength
Allowing movement

And to feel it in my bones
means to be sure
Not based on whim or mood
or pretense or projection
But on the solid weight of being —
That in me which interacts with gravity —
Its density providing quiet dignity
Competent in service
Standing up
for me.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 21, 2012


Steadying

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Spirit, your eye
knows how to appraise me
You know how
to cradle my head in your hands
and tenderly reset
each strand of hair
each ruffled thought
each foolish misconception

You know how to set me steady
Hold me till my inner balance
finds itself
Send me on my course so gently
I can feel the poise to guide myself

Spirit, your gaze
is so clear
When I see with your eyes
I know that what I see is true:
My love is strong, my joy is pure
I choose your sight
to see through
I choose your sight
to see me through.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 20, 2012


Drawing Lessons

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My hand wouldn’t do
what my eyes wanted
But, it protested,
it wasn’t its fault
My eyes had been unclear
My mind’s eye had been ready
to recognize
but not to direct
It wanted my hand
to bring forth beauty
on its own
But it needed more vision.

They stand in need of some negotiation
Some sharing of a step-by-step relation
The hand, the mind, the hand
to share their contributions,
The work to take more than a single iteration
Yes, I see a field of patience is required
to reach the image that my heart desired.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 19, 2012


Chrysalis

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This chrysalis
is a holy state —
Intake ceased
Action halted
Identity held suspended

A time for quiet focus of awareness
The necessity for everything
that’s yet unformed
The coalescence
of ideas and elements
The microscopic gravitation
of that which goes together
Furled wings, curled fingertips
Slow emerging clarity

In time you will step forth
Your power rise to meet the new demands
But while you need this firm container
this darkness, this external shielding
It will stay with you

Watch within
You’ll see the signs
And you’ll know when to follow
every finished impulse
into the day.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 18, 2012


Article of Faith

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Maybe faith can move mountains
But only Love can tell
where the mountain needs to go
Only Love can place
each sparrow on its twig
and every bright cascading stream
in its swift channel 
down the mountainside

Faith can grasp
the malleability
of all perception
Stand upon the precipice
of possibility
And can see that anything
can be made to happen
But only love can tap the wisdom
to determine 
what step to take
what hills to move
So let me cultivate my faith
but in the field of love.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 16, 2012


Peace Channel

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Let me move in the peace channel
Defined and defended by thought
Where no worry can dart in
No recurring pitches
about what is wrong
and how someone else
should fix it
No stress about my best chance
and how I might miss it
No harping on mistakes
and dour predictions

Let the peace channel run strong
in the clarity
of my knowing
Nothing mars the calm song
of my being
or the perfect place
for everyone
to move in broad and tranquil ease
as Mind’s bright conceiving
now and all along
of everything that is.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 15, 2012


Our Room

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It is a room of lights —
vessels of lights
strings of lights
soft lamps

It is a room of color —
reds, mostly; also gold
and greens and oranges,
blues and purples

It is a room of creativity —
Ideas have been born here,
and children
and gifts and poems
and ardent visions

So we return here
to be inspired
to find direction
and regeneration
To feast our eyes
and rest our minds
reset our souls
before we venture forth again.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 14, 2012


Mind’s Eye View

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In my mind-picture of you
you were painted
with a bright palette —
yellows and oranges and greens —
exuberant color splashing
from your hands
which stretched out open,
the joy of your creating
crackling between your fingers
great spreads of overlapping hues
rising from you
filling up the canvas
and I knew
This is a true picture of you
Something you’ve always been
Something you will again
learn how to be.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 13, 2012