Author Archives: Wendy

Escaping the heat (day trip to the coast)

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I kept following the water
down the braiding of waves, of sand,
pursuing the ebb lines
where the incoming waves were faint,
but watching for the buildup
where two or three would join
and I would run from them
up the beach, letting them catch me,
but not by much,
holding my skirts (mostly)
out of their reach

The children on the beach
jumped and ran
with the energy of the waves,
the same quick action,
the same total engagement

We filled up with their joy
and their abandon, and the steady
but ever changing
motion of the sea,
soothing us, bringing us,
though through shifting sands,
to firmer ground .

©Wendy Mulhern
August 12, 2021i

The small knot

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Down there in the smallest place,
if I reach gently, if I probe with patience
and precision, I can find and untie
the smallest knot. Here is where change
begins, here is where the whole huge projection
said to cast its shadow on the whole world
can be released

Not till the knot within is loosed
can the big lie, too, be seen
as having no power to tie us up
in knots. Once the small knot is released,
everything begins to tumble free.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 11, 2021i

The fruit of the Spirit

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Slowly we start to learn
that we are sustained,
not by the things we produce,
but by the engagement
of our hands, the grasp
of our minds, the tenacity
with which we hold on
to the flowing life source –
the attention we pour in,
giving ourselves to the curiosity,
the work, the play, the follow through
that brings these things to light.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 10, 2021i

Citadel

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I am no longer willing
to let just any thoughts
set themselves up like spiders
in my mind, constructing their cobwebs,
leaving their frass about

My mind is my temple,
my mind is my citadel,
and all the thoughts are called to service  –
they must radiate
the great calm of truth,
they must establish peace
and see it take hold
within the whole of me
and all throughout the land.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 8, 2021i

Saturday night

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Saturday night and we crashed out
after our swim, before your supper
(but not before mine)
and didn’t get up
till I had to get lanterns
to see to prepare your meal

Saturday night after the wind
blew the bank of clouds in,
trees dropping needles,
lifting their limbs,
sending the rush of the wind wave
like stories through their throng,
standing still afterwards,
drifting towards darkness

Saturday night and you thought
you might like
some people to talk to,
some night life to see
but the life of the night here
is coolness and crickets
and what we can find in our dreams.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 7, 2021i

One body

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If we share one body,
it must be embodiment,
must be that pressing up against the edge
that lets us move in perfect fit,
that lets us feel there’s nothing between
us and the impulse, the precise knowing
of where we are to be –
must be that satisfaction
of having been the dance itself,
of being the very art,
fully in tune

If we are one body,
we must know how we each feel,
must feel the same press within
and so innately follow
all of the intentions
and attentions, all the powering desire  –
we must know how,
within our body,
to be one.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 6, 2021i

My prayer

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This is my prayer  –
to see you,
to always see you
and not be fooled
by any of the demons
which claim to have moved in,
which use your voice to shout
and say things
you would never say

This is my prayer  –
to see you
whole and innocent and droll,
affluent and generous,
bright shine of Soul.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 4, 2021i

Find Me

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Come find me –
I’m stuck in this heat
like a fly in honey,
too sticky to move,
to trapped to sleep

Come find me,
move like melting ice,
like flowing water,
remind me why I’m here
and what I live for

Be my Mind, my Spirit,
be my breath, my cool,
soak me as with rain,
and give the land and trees
their needed drink, too.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 3, 2021

August

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It can still seem like a long slow trek
through heat and drought
till the rains come,
but August also starts to offer
glimmers of civility  –
dawn a little later,
sunset sooner,
the beat of heat
a little shorter,
and these weightless moments
where time floats in golden glow,
and crickets and grasses,
turkeys and deer,
bracken and fir
go about their lives,
where presence is sufficient,
holding and deserving all attention,
compelling us
with the eternal now.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 2, 2021