You can find that angels
are walking with you
as your feet step down
the gravel road,
and your heart suddenly fills
with satisfaction
because you’re good at what you’re doing,
because someone made you laugh,
because the air is full of grace
In so many ways
the fundamental fact of goodness
makes itself known to your soul.
You could call them angels
for how they translate truth
into a feeling you so deeply
desire and understand.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 13, 2019
I say no to this cat
but she proves I’m not serious,
pushing her way nose first
into my lap,
waving her tail in my face
We compromise —
she gets to stay here
if she sits still,
if she lets me write
As for the mind of cats —
she must think it very strange,
all the little things I find
to busy myself — pointless things,
when I could be affording her a lap,
reveling in mammal warmth,
feeling the sunshine
There is a place
for butterscotch fur
and a tail that waves just so,
and a secret hunting side
to keep sheathed,
except for a touch of needle claws
against my thighs.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 12, 2019
The verdict of defeat
is not the final word,
however hard and flat
the voice intoning it
Nothing said in hard, flat tones
can be the final word,
for truth has joy, and truth
is ever singing
When you hear truth’s voice,
the ringing of it
will make you sit still.
You won’t want to do anything
but listen
When you hear truth’s voice,
all that’s hard and flat in you
will melt —
all that speaks to you in cruel tones,
all that is vindictive and contemptuous
will turn to dust and wash away,
and leave you sparkling clear and true,
toning in the voice that knows your name.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 11, 2019
I start to believe
that this is not a matter of
evolving, not about
some distantly perceived
far off enlightenment
This perception has run
like sheen on fabric
all along the weaving of my life,
in my waking moments, in my memories,
in my hopes, in my assessments of my days
Everything Spirit — the spirit of everything,
everything held in its essence inviolate,
everything formed in the Mind that conceives it,
nothing whose essence can fail
Yes, this has been a thing I didn’t know,
something whose knowing now saves me from fear
but in its perception, I see that it has to be
something I’ve always known.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 10, 2019
In my dream I said I was sorry.
You said it was OK,
and your forgiveness
lifted my spirits mightily
This is the case with much that I remember —
I’m sorry for what I didn’t understand,
but forgiven, for I didn’t understand. There is no need
for dwelling in regret —
new perspective brings a brand new page
So in the light of day
as in the dreaming night,
forgiveness wins —
there’s nothing more to pay
except attention to what is given,
the grace to love,
the fresh-washed day to live in.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 9, 2019
I’ve been sleeping for a long time —
sleeping as I walk through my day,
some old tune looping through my mind,
sleeping as I do the needed tasks
without feeling much of anything
I started thinking how it might feel
to be awake to see and notice
the living forces moving through the moments,
the swift imperative impelling every life
The world could open out in color,
the sky would sing, the air would dance,
all things would celebrate each other,
all breath would praise,
and all the earth would laugh
Now when I think of it,
I try to wake myself up,
at least a little,
at least for now.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 8, 2019
If I find you before you set foot
in the world, before its quick traction
grabs your steps, flings you
on an unintended path
If I find you in the impulse
of your desire, in your wish
for all the beauty and perfection
in all your interactions
Then I will see you as you are,
and hold, perhaps, a beacon
to help you find your footing
in this day.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 6, 2019
Let’s hold down the whole tarp of the world —
you at your point, me at mine, each of us
scattered like stars, like pin pricks in the fabric
There are enough of us to hold things steady,
to help them settle,
to calm the raging wrinkling crackling rippling,
keep it from being tumbled, over and over,
in the wind, keep it from ripping ragged
We hold it down in peace. We hold it
in unruffled knowing
that everything opposing
just really wants
to curl up and be cuddled,
just wants
acceptance in the Allness,
and the confidence
that there’s no need for fighting anymore
We’ll hold down the world
until it lies still,
until it rests velvet
along the contours of its love.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 4, 2019
The weather came through fast —
one moment, charming warm sun,
the next, a rolling dark cloud,
a strong cold wind,
rain visible across the valley,
trees on the east hill
making a rushing sound
The task we were doing
in peaceful progression
became urgent, rain rolling down
the roof we were trying to cover,
ladders getting muddy, footing slippery
I rode the rush of excitement
through the storm,
not minding the wet and the cold
or the need to persist with our task until done,
since we’d be there to see and to feel it.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 3, 2019
It’s twilight and the colors fade —
the cat I’m petting
now the same shade
as my hands, my sleeve
She doesn’t like my writing
so she pushes her cold nose
against my hand, my pen, my book.
The visual texture of fur, of firs,
blends into similarity,
I can’t see my words
The turkeys in the trees are quiet now,
I hear crickets, and homebound traffic,
this cat is warm but the air grows colder —
time for a transition.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 2, 2019