Author Archives: Wendy

Day’s End

Posted on by
Reply














Quiet evening closes in
Light gathers into lamplit circles
Sky outside exudes its final magic
Trees recede serenely into shadows

All the ranging efforts of the day return
Pool their energy into the center
Strong internal processors now softly burn
assimilating what the day has meant

Each time of holding up the light 
has played its part
Each act of empathy 
imprinted in your heart
will bring its fruits 
in surer shining of the truth
to satisfy your soul and bring rebirth
and serve as affirmation of your worth.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 19, 2012


Howling

Posted on by
Reply

Go ahead
Stomp if you need to
Raise your fist at the sky
and scream
Swear, howl, wail
Your thoughts aren’t holding up the world
Your actions, however desperate
can’t damn you
The Love that holds you
is well able to sustain the world
and you
through this storm
whether it’s your storm
or all the world kicked up around you
whether you feel you have been bad
or feel you have been wronged
It doesn’t matter
You can rest
The Principle that turns the worlds
will keep on turning
Your drooping hopes will raise their heads
towards morning.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 18, 2012



Approaching You

Posted on by
Reply

The way to your open heart
and the way to mine
may be the same:
When I care more
than any calculated consequence
And I listen
not to words 
but to the cry beneath them
And I hear
not what I’ve thought before 
but that which calls right now
And I ask myself:
What does it feel like behind those eyes?
I may approach you
And if I see 
that flicker of a kindled hope
And if I feel
its resonance within
And if I shine
that flicker back in affirmation
I may arrive.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 17, 2012



Infinite Permission

Posted on by
1

The One who made you
never said
Only take a little love
a polite small serving
(being sure to leave plenty
for everyone else)

The One who made you 
never said
Just show a little of yourself
not enough so anyone has to notice
(don’t be a spectacle)

The One who made you
gives you infinite permission
to take all the love
you possibly can
(for in taking love, you multiply it)

The One who made you 
gives you infinite permission
to shine forth everything you are
(for otherwise,
Why would you have been made?)

©Wendy Mulhern
May 16, 2012



Forgiveness

Posted on by
Reply

For this great silent gift
that’s called forgiveness —
Release of gracious fragrance
to the air,
Permission to surrender my agenda
for a fine peace to cherish and to share —
I give my thanks,
For it came down so softly
Independent of my wrestling mind
It healed my wounds, erased my anguished pain
and let my inner tones be realigned

Though I knew forgiveness was required
It wasn’t something I could do alone
Ah! It was given me from somewhere higher
A truth reverberating in my bones

With this gift
I know that I, too, am forgiven
Released from all the knots wherein I writhed
To walk through slender rays of present heaven
Bright halos hovering around my eyes.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 15, 2012



Thought Channels II

Posted on by
Reply

Don’t have much to say

I must sit and wait
till my internal waters settle down
The turbid sediment, roiled up
from stream beds used to quiet flow
from banks above where waters mostly run
Must make its way
as far as it must go
till it can clear.

Then I’ll see
just how the course has changed
What views will stay the same
What places where my thoughts and hopes once dwelt
will be no longer fed
and so dry out
What unexpected new course I might find
of love to feed and occupy my mind.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 14, 2012



Processing

Posted on by
2

How will you remember these —
Swing of hammock, song of trees
Blanket filling in where sun has ceased?
Wounded thoughts that need to be released . . .

Every day I send these bobbing forth
Always with earnest hope that some will see
Encapsulated, bottled, swiftly corked
Love notes to my community

There is no string to bring me with them
I can’t expect them to be met, I know
They must be free if I’m to truly give them
I send them out, and I stay here, alone

The sun is sitting in the tops of trees
The wind, affectionate, still musses up their leaves
The afternoon slides on towards evening hours
Punctuated by suburban crows and cars

Evening evens everything
Draws together trees and sky
As here and there become the same,
Things that were distant softly unify

How will you remember this?
You’ll wrap it in the evening scents and sounds
You’ll bring your peace to reign, and here is how:
You’ll set your steady anchor in the now.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 13, 2012



Counsel

Posted on by
Reply

I can’t tell you what it’s worth
to work alongside someone
steady repetition, finding rhythm
common effort toward a common goal
getting grimy, overcoming awkwardness
gaining growing comfort in the job

I can’t help you choose
whether to engage
in this thankless task of working with your dad
who will not thank you, who won’t be counting points
but will slowly feel companioned by your presence
And if it’s not done willingly
you might as well not bother
might as well go hang out with your friends

I know that it’s worth something
but I can’t tell you what
I don’t know what it’s worth to you
I don’t know what you’ll get
I don’t know when you’ll know what you have gained
You’ll choose, and maybe later understand.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 12, 2012



Lifelines

Posted on by
Reply

Many years ago,
a dozing vision told me,
“You have a lifeline to a star.”
I sat up, alert, obscurely comforted
that any chasm I might face 
could hold no threat
and that no danger loomed
of finding my life dull and flat
I had a lifeline to a star!
and it would lift me up
across light years and eons
to my dreams

Little did I know
I have so many lifelines —
distant stars the least of them —
right here
Wind touched willow singing in the sun,
Gentle currents sliding softly,
All the gems of eyes that can connect
are lifelines holding everything together
I move and feel them pull against my chest
Inviting me to heft them, find their swing
and catapult myself
in heady, death defying joy
hand over hand along their awesome web
through this bright day.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 11, 2012



Good Night

Posted on by
Reply













Sweet bright day 

draws to its close
Companionable shadows
bring me in
to intimacy’s secret sentences
The moon that tracked 
across the daytime sky
now sleeps, and leaves the cool night
to the stars

Inside the house, the ticking clocks
prepare to stand their vigil
The noises of the day retreat
to leave them looming
It’s my time to surrender
so that dreams can have their sway
as we ride swiftly
through the curve of night
and on toward day.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 10, 2012