Author Archives: Wendy

Step Forth

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All the stories you have heard
are not your story,
all the endings you may have thought
foreshadowed what would come of you
are not your ending

Pick up your tale – don’t let it
drag in the dust –
you aren’t ordained to go the way
you have been told befalls
everyone else,
and no one else is either

Pay attention  – this is not a time to drift,
it’s not a time to fall,
It’s time to catch your upward lift,
time to embrace your all

Take in the new unfolding steps
as courage leads you –
This is your story, and the world’s  –
Step forth – it needs you.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 23, 2021

Emerge Gently

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There’s a reason
to approach all progress
with a gentle grace

There’s a logic to the structure  –
though a building may rise high,
it never grows beyond the need
for its foundation

Though I gain a lofty view,
there’s no outgrowing kindness,
and the love that grounds me
must always be the first thing,
and must shine through
whatever I attain.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 22, 2021

On passing more than one inspection

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Maybe we’ve forgotten
or maybe we never knew
how to celebrate –
little leaps to match inner elation,
thoughts of calling someone to proclaim,
a feast, a party  – but no, we can’t do that,
and so we go to town and get.a sandwich
(and also some propane)

And sleep in, the next day, a little later,
and have a slightly shorter day of work,
and set ourselves up for the next sprint,
which will be fun. And therein lies the joy –
it will be fun!

©Wendy Mulhern
February 20, 2021

Light Bearing

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It’s not about being right,
it’s not about winning

The omni-directionality
of the converging chorus
overcomes, with its sheer beauty,
any operatic sense

For you’ll find
you’d rather be part of it
than be exalted on your own  –
you’d rather be an unnamed conduit
of this transforming light
than to be spotlighted,
called out as a star

You’d rather know
someone went home
feeling filled with brightness
and shared it with their family
and they all felt
delighted in and blessed

You’d rather know
this light is the current
that keeps everything going,
just as it always has
and always will.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 19, 2021

Bubble

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The windshield melts the image
but not the trees
into the soft wet of the afternoon

We have retreated
into this decadent warmth,
fleeing the frenzy of the work
and the chill of the dampness,
choosing this luxury bubble
which proves
we aren’t wholly rooted
in the rigors of homestead living –
we can watch it
like reality TV
through the glass
at least for a while.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 18, 2021

Good Morning

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Birds were singing and some trucks rolling
as we awoke and
untangled our limbs from our dreams,
and twined, one more time, together,
as the morning light started
to come in the window,
and we entertained the notion
of one or two more minutes
of lazy languor, though we knew
we would get up soon

We would bring with us
into the day
the sweet equanimity,
the readiness to bless,
the easy comfort
of having no one to judge
and everyone to appreciate,
much to do, but also
enough space, enough time.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 16, 2021

Nodding Off

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After I fed us
we both fell asleep
before we intended to –
you, by the fire, letting your book drop –
I watched the twitch of your folded hands,
the nod of your head, wondering
if this was an effort at meditation

Then I woke up with a start,
also having nodded in my chair  –
my page still blank,
the fire almost out

One more piece of wood
for the stove, one more
cup of tea,
the single flame, like me,
probably unable to keep burning
till the wood is gone.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 15, 2021

Still Untold

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You wanted to stand up and speak,
you wanted your story
to be told,
you wanted them all to know
how much she meant to you

But all your words kept being swallowed
in second guessing and regret,
and by the knowledge that your anguish
wasn’t something you could convey, anyway,
wasn’t something that people
had the capacity to hear.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 14, 2021

Fully Clear

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And if you need to stand up
in a crowded room
and speak for yourself,
if you need to be witnessed,
if you have done so, many many times
in the theater of your mind

Then the least I can offer
is a sympathetic ear,
an acceptance free of judgment,
a starting point that everyone deserves,
a place your innocence can surface,
can find its focus,
can come fully clear.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 13, 2021

Ready

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I start first with the traffic
in my mind
“to bless and not condemn ” –
Thoughts pass by quickly,
they arc and settle in the places
they have gone before  –
I have to pull them out
and see what object they have held
and if they blessed or they condemned.
If they need correcting
I have to do it

There is plenty of traffic.
(“to love and not judge “)
– the judgment being so dismissive,
requiring no more thought  –
as neatly tied and closed
as a politician’s speech,
so easy to write off.
While loving – that’s a far deeper engagement,
which, if I’ve done truly,
will stay with me

“To heal and not pass by” –
There is no neutral ground  –
despite my arsenal of reasons
not to offer aid.
There’s only one answer
that engages what I am
and what I’m here for –
There’s no real option
to turn away.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 12, 2021

Thanks to Ross Safronoff for quoted text