I lit a fire this morning,
up before dawn,
before the sun slowly glowed
through the fog
Hot water rippled from the kettle
for my tea, the cabin
filled with warmth by then,
daylight peaking in
Later, for awhile,
the sun warmed everything it touched,
but evening finds us hoarding warmth,
holding close to heat sources,
seeking to absorb enough
to ease us through the night.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 1, 2019
Back to the loop again
of learning
not to be afraid —
it’s not that difficult,
though it may seem so
in the echo chamber
of my benighted mind
I free myself from there
by tracing, in my thought,
the circle that enfolds us all,
that leaves out nothing,
so everyone, and every cause,
surrenders to the fact of being loved.
And in the all embracing love,
there is no fear.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 30, 2019
The flight is full. I fill my soul
with comfort of humanity.
Some smiles are used to sell things,
but the ones caught here,
in the lines, the waiting,
the shifting into place —
these are free,
they sparkle three dimensions,
they reach deep
We can be herded and jostled,
scanned and screened and patted down,
but when we can smile to each other,
we keep our liberty.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 29, 2019
Once again, I settle in to Soul,
the home that dwells in every moment
waiting to support, affirm,
waiting to release me
I take my shoes off.
I breathe deep. No longer
out of breath from sweating,
I can find the rhythm
of the full cycle. No longer pinned
under conflicting propositions,
I feel myself float. I let myself expand
It’s so freeing to remember
I am not enslaved. I owe no consequence,
have no indebtedness,
no fear, no shame —
my life is here in Soul,
and Soul knows my name.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 28, 2019
I will turn all the pictures in.
I will set my eyes to see
at cross dimensions,
in places that cut between,
that take the same colors
but make of them a wholly different story
Every story told in terms of good and bad
will change to true accounts of fine engagement —
they will sparkle easy grace
and glow with an intensity of depth,
they will shine with courage and surrender —
courage in how much we give for love,
surrender as we recognize
we never need to earn it
There won’t be anything there
that puts us in a bad light,
for there we will be seen for what we are.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 27, 2019
You might go to sit down
and have lunch with God.
And it wouldn’t have to be different
from any other lunch — that is,
you can’t really have lunch
(or any moment) without God
You couldn’t have lunch
without life, without consciousness,
without some level of desire
These things are signs
of some much deeper
dimension of being,
that which moves you
at the very core
So if you pay attention —
if you really think these things through,
you’ll see you’re well companioned,
indeed, royally. And you can deeply savor
your lunch with God.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 25, 2019
We go each day to the house
to see how we will be built,
what skills and insight, what endurance
will arise in us to meet the day’s demands
For we do not come static
to any task, nor do we come
with a collected stash of virtue
to test ourselves against what is required
We come to grow, we come to change,
we come to learn,
we come to be made new,
to be transformed,
and more than what we make
with wood and nails and stone,
this will be our building,
this will be our home.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 24, 2019
Well, a straight path
to any goal
is either an illusion,
or the path and goal
were made by someone else,
and so the goal itself
is really not a goal
We must be kind
both to ourselves and anyone who’s striving —
no one arrives without
what could be seen as setbacks —
there probably was really not
a better way to go,
and where we went
(and where they went)
is also probably
not what it looks like
to anyone observing from outside
That’s what I tell myself
about our roof —
so many storms, so many leaks,
so many temporary measures
which made their own troubles,
until we finally — let’s hope it’s sometime soon —
arrive at where our house is safe and dry.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 23, 2019
I didn’t brush my teeth last night,
didn’t write a poem either —
daily necessities overridden
by the black rolling of roof underlayment
racing against darkness and the predicted rain,
and no motivation to cook by lantern light
and all the restaurants closed or far away
I didn’t write a poem last night
or brush my teeth either —
just crawled in bed,
but all is well —
everything is still here in the morning.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 22, 2019
With infinite patience
I’m brought round again
to learn the new meanings
which are the old meanings
from before the world began
I will learn them
here in the calm of late afternoon,
here in the rain washed, sun graced moments
when the turkeys wander back
from across the field
and crickets sing softly
and grasshoppers click
This isn’t something
I could ever learn alone,
and the great wonder is,
I don’t have to.
©Wendy Mulhern
September 19, 2019