Category Archives: Earth Whispering: Poems

It’s my discipline to write a poem a day, and I post a poem here almost every day. To find a given poem or poems on a given topic, use the search bar at the right. To receive my poems by email, please subscribe, at right.

I’d love to hear your comments on any poems. To comment, click on the little speech bubble just under this text, to the right.

Ontology

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Actually,
There was never any question
of whether you would be loved,
Of whether everything you touch —
the air, the land, the sea, the living —
would move in joy to meet your presence
in every moment

There never was a question
whether you would bless each moment
by simply being,
For you were not created
separate from your essence
And you can’t exist
separate from your love.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 2, 2013


Things come together

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Things come together
Sometimes it only takes
a few extra hands
to wrestle the springy withes
into place, to get them to
the latching interlocking
where suddenly the boughs
support each other and become
a basket, or a shelter

Sometimes it takes
holding a gaze long enough
that there can be no doubt:
This smile is meant for you
This welcome
recognizes you
Yes, you
with joy
for what you are

Things come together
Efforts of days
Sproutings of far-flung hopes
unfurling daily:
The fruits of your sweet intentions
nourish your soul.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 1, 2013


In gratitude

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Who can calculate
the worth of these moments
of coming part way out of sleep,
turning over, and returning —
not fully —
just enough to touch base
with the sinuous, lusty reality
of being here, now
in this body?
With the certain vitality
of plants in spring
reaching for growth,
With the confidence of currents
of being one
with the flow of life.

By morning
they have woven
a springy web
to hold me
in the brightness of the day,
to show me
which way to turn my leaves
to drink the sun.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 31, 2013


Solitude

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I can be like solitude
if that is what you need
I can walk beside you
And our breath can sink
as deep as it needs to 
into the roots of being
And there can be time
for the whole silence to rise up
as far as it needs to
to meet the embrace of the day
And for each wind-touched frond
to offer
and accept
the invitation to dance.

There is enough space
for me in you,
and for you in me,
that we can walk
in this shared solitude
however far the journey leads our feet.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 30, 2013


Tricks of the Light

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It seems we are
so refracted from ourselves
That we don’t recognize these lights
as having anything to do with us,
So attracted to what seems
so out of reach
That we can’t trace
the inner spark from which they radiate.

These tricks with mirrors
make us feel alone
Closed off by glass
Confused by all the faces 
that gaze back at us,
looking all the same —
Faces that wear all our fears, projected,
All asking something of us
that we can’t quite name

But all these lights are ours
And they reflect our center
And all these lights are us:
Through our own core
we enter
the place where we can soothe
all these eyes
Allay these doubts and fears
And let these facets
magnify the One.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 29, 2013


Natural processes

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The organism moves to heal itself
to fill in gaps
And to make whole
its pattern of movement
And when it is restricted
it will move against those bonds
repeatedly, inexorably
Directing all its energies
to crash against whatever chains it
or hems it in

It needs the wholeness of its movement
Just as it needs the wholeness of its body
Needs to be free
to fill the sweeping arcs
for which it is designed

It will break through
Or it will find a way
to move beneath the barrier
And there
Soft and persistent and unmoldable as water
It will wear away the walls
until they fall.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 28, 2013


Going Under

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I close my eyes and watch the scenes that rise
My mind makes stories
for the sounds it hears —
A not-too-terrible retreat
from the bizarre intrusion —
Two heads intently staring down at me
Two pairs of hands with instruments employed
Where they have safely cordoned off
the messy natural functions of my mouth
My tongue sits under rubber,
too numb to do much.

Best to go under —
To watch dancers
And parallax of buildings’ walls
as I approach them
And flowing swirls of river water
Best to relax
into the yes I’m learning to lean in to.
Wake me up when it’s over.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 27, 2013


Spring Signs

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The kindly moon
Riding almost full
Through the shell-pink sky
Presiding over all the arc of night
On leaving, drew a blanket
Over the sleeping earth
To keep her warm till morning

The softness of today
Attests to sweet sleep
The birdsong finds the air gentle
As it lifts its clear tones across the breeze
The bulbs are up, and many trees are greening
Shoulders lift in lightness
At the day’s ease

And in the bustle of the evening
We see each other cheered
By the enduring light
That spreads benevolence across the traffic
Extending hope and welcome towards the night.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 25, 2013


Vignettes from the day

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1.
The nappable sun
on the bench in the park
found me mellow
while boys and their fathers
launched out in a red canoe
fishing gear ready
for bonding and adventure

2.
An elderly lady and I
raced our shopping carts
down the aisle
I pulled back to not collide with others
She laughed and pulled ahead
I squeaked out through my door ahead of her
but her car was closer, so she won.
I kept laughing all the way home.

3.
This coffeehouse is empty
but for us, and the owner
and the western sun
that gleams through the windows
which frame out different sections of the sky.
Day flows into evening,
We pack up and head home
Plum blossoms scent the air —
Sweet delicate spice of Spring.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 25, 2013


Exploring Yes

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I wanted this:
I wanted to be overcome,
Wanted the unknown mysterious tide
to rush through me, lifting away
everything I thought I was.
I wanted this internal suspension
Where my molecules,
With sudden phosphorescence,
Flow in a toroidal circulation,
Waking me all up inside.

I wanted this astonished state
of being rendered formless —
My caterpillar body melting
in its chrysalis —
Feeling in an ongoing surprise
The newness taking shape within.

When we are done, I’ll soar —
Of this I’m sure
though I can’t fathom how,
or what I’ll be
For I am drawn to this
with all my essence —
This yes to you is yes, still more,
to me.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 24, 2013