Trust

Walking down the slope today
I was remembering times of trusting  –
sweet connection, like being borne aloft
on a great swing, feeling the lift

Wondering where I left that behind,
how I came to feel
I was on my own,
earning my trustworthiness
with every step

It has been a worthy journey,
and if not earning, certainly learning
what is required of me,
what is my move to own my desire,
how I can follow it back to my core

But somewhere maybe also,
there’s a place for a child’s trust –
the willing reaching of my hand,
the eager leap,
to be caught, and held aloft,
to be caught up and embraced,
to feel the lift,
the certain joy, the easy grace
of seeing love so constant
in my Father’s face.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 19,  2021

First Rain

The long awaited rain
comes down softly,
gentle on the dry grass,
the hardened ground,
giving everything a chance
to open up, to take it in

And we could say we’ve earned the right
to soften, to rest from all our work,
behind the droplets on the windshield,
becoming rivulets now,
becoming drumbeats,
till they convince us
to make our way home.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 18,  2021

The goodness of life

The goodness of life
can’t be extracted from the moment,
can’t be packaged as a supplement
to take later, or to take
without having noticed
the textures and tremolos,
the subtle but definite
order of everything,
without comprehending
the depth and constancy
of your belonging
and what it means

The goodness of life
requires you.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 16,  2021

Convergence

We are coming together
in the knitting of things that grow
from different directions
and converge
like edges on the opposite sides
of a wound,
like native blackberry
weaving a mat to cover the bare ground

Don’t despair at the distance between us –
we are coming together.
You may feel appalled at my position,
but don’t worry  –
we are all pulled to the same thing,
and though my yearning seems to come
from a different place than yours,
it seeks the same goal, and so
we will come together.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 15,  2021

Sky Angels

Already the ice-tipped sky angels
have returned  – they herald
the crisp edges of the days,
which we have both longed for and feared,
since, once the slide starts
towards the rainy season,
everything falls fast

We know the trees want it,
and the land. We want to be ready,
we want to ride the joy of it
all the way to cozy,
want our trees and ourselves
to make it through.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 13,  2021

Bring me home

Bring me home  –
I am willing to come contrite,
I am willing to come silly,
I am willing to be seen as I am,
however long I have resisted it

Bring me home  –
I am willing to be cleansed
as I go, to let these crusted edges
fall away. I’m tired of pretending
that I know stuff,
I am willing to be led by the hand

It’s been a long time in this hamster wheel,
driven by illusions of progress
and falling behind –
I’m ready  to be done with time,
to have all of its structures
proved to be nothing –
no huge monstrosity
needing to be corrected,
no pit we can’t dig ourselves out of

I’m willing to be part
of the great awakening,
eager for you to bring me home.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 12,  2021

Crescents

We walk in the smile of the day,
feet touching down along its curve.
Songbirds and crickets,
turkey and deer –
all the usual inhabitants  –
move in the same grace

We revel in crescents  –
the arc of temperature,
the waxing moon,
the hammock of tenderness
we offer each other
during and after
the easy swing of the day’s work.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 11,  2021

Thursday

Every week it’s suddenly Thursday,
and then Thursday’s gone

But all.of this tumble has nothing to do
with the progress at hand,
which rolls out like sine waves
from the turning of the wheel
and goes forth like thistle seeds released

I keep learning the same thing.
Every day it’s new.
Every day I am amazed to discover it

I’m like a spaceship setting off
across light years,
the universe unfolding and enfolding,
stars in every direction,
heartbeat present and insistent.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 9,  2021

State of the World

The dream state of the world
convulses, rolls in chains,
roars in pain at their constraining,
rumbles and crashes, trying to rise

Its ripples murmur
through every earthbound life,
and each one feels it –
a nagging from afar,
a rage within

The beast in each
has been, thus far, contained
by shunting off to frame another’s blame,
where, in our ignorance,
or by some monstrous plan,
it will explode to burn
in someone else’s land

So it will be, until we learn the name
of that which sparks us all, so we can claim
the gentle power
that gives us each release,
resets the primal hour
and soothes the beast.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 8,  2021

Press

Tears can cleanse
and tears can mend –
waterfalls cascading down,
smoothing rocks beneath,
filling in the crevices,
rendering me meek

Lord knows I need something  –
I am willing to cry and cry
and cry and cry,
but will it be enough?

Not in the depths of my own chasm,
not in the shallows of my conclusions.
Let me press myself
up against the infinite
so that its light shines through.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 7,  2021