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.

November

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We are not hardened yet for winter
though it is November
and trees stand almost bare
and though each day is noticeably shorter
The frost on roofs this morning
met us unprepared
Our bones felt cold,
our flesh tensed up against them

We are not hardened yet for winter
though it’s not as cold as it will get
We have the heat turned up
inside our cozy house
And we turn back like cats
when we go out
No saunters on the sand today —
A brisk walk is required
And even short forays outside
have left us tired

We are not hardened yet for winter
But soon
we’ll open up our doors to what it gives
Feel the brisk cleansing of its mountain breath
that, summoning our inner fires,
calls us to live.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 10, 2012


Freedom to Marry

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(Regarding Washington State’s passage of Referendum 74)

Today I’m breathing freer
because Tuesday
We pushed the sky
up a little higher
So there’s more room to breathe together
in this tent we share
There’s a larger space for all of us
to celebrate care

And we move a little closer
to the understanding
That every love is sacred, holy, good
And every love commitment
is a wonder and a gift
that warrants open honor and support

And we move a little closer to the proving
That law is never properly tyrannical
That we can trust our inner truth to guide us
And don’t need to be pushed about externally

And love is love whoever does the loving
And we need more of it
and never less
And each of us can know
our love is beautiful
In each relation bringing out the best.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 8, 2012


Vision Prayer

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Spirit, today
You can have my eyes
Hold them holy
Guide the light they gather
Give them focus
Let them synthesize
the clear truth you display
Let them harmonize
the elements of your day
Let me empathize
with everyone I see
So that I understand
your comprehensive ownership of me
The way your grace illumines
everything I know,
all that I am.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 7, 2012


Preparing for a storm

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We have done this many times before
Set our house in order
Hunkered down
Loose ends put away
Extra anchors set, and ties
to hold down everything 
that could be borne away

Most often it has passed us by —
The next day dedicated
to putting all things back to order
Reopening, resetting our displays
The busy tasks fast filling up our days

But this time could be worse
Thoughts turn toward cyclones
Making us stay low
While yet we scan the sea, the sky
Tsunami warnings urging us
to go high

And we can’t know what we will do
if suddenly our landscape is completely changed
and all the things we trusted to are gone
and we become
like all the other sufferers
who don’t know how
to claim the rights we took for granted
until now.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 6, 2012

Guidance Prayer

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Today, Spirit, I entrust
all my thoughts to you
because I must —
I know the courses I have run
have many sinkholes, many ruts
And if I set out on my own,
their deep-worn tracks
will ever thrust me
down the same false paths again

Spirit, today I float
with your calm breath to guide me
Hold my quiet hope
a growing light inside me
Let your wisdom cope
with every maze my thought may chase
Let me fly with you
Impart your grace
Wean me of those old recursions
Make me new
Let me be your mirror, through and through
Let me grasp, in this and every minute
your vast and shining world
and my place in it.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 5, 2012


America Blues

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You only lose if you lose heart,
I told him —
It was a good Sunday School lesson,
and he agreed
He’d seen his teammates flag
but he had rallied
Made five goals to bring his team up to a tie
(being a better shot than many seventh graders,
he confided.)

You only lose if you lose heart
And here I am
In the face of all these lies
that up to half our country
seem to have swallowed
And the bought campaigns
meekly reported in the news
as if they were legitimate

And I am at a loss for heart
All the deep sighs
that keep escaping me
And the head-bowed stupor
that keeps engulfing me
And my feeble protest
as if someone would hear
Will do no good
If I’m to help us rally
I need to find my heart.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 4, 2012


Night Walk

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In the space between our palms
(our fingers clasped,
 our slightly swinging arms
familiar and enchanting as we walk along)

In the space between our palms
there is a world
Contained, enclosed, but infinite
in its scale
Planets glide around small stars
Warm energy converges in the center

And messages can be conveyed
across the sphere
Not words, not anecdotes
not concepts and conclusions
not tasks or resolutions
but something better
The simple joy of being here.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 3, 2012


Being You

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This is such a simple thing
No pressure to perform
No criteria to meet
No selective judgement
Nothing that you need to measure up to
No one to be measured up against
No grade, no quota, no one better than
the simple act of being who you are

No voices, from outside or from within
can coach you to the center of your being
But all your yearnings lead you there at last
The place you can look out from, clearly seeing

Your truth delivers you
Gives you the lens to find
The simple core of home, the clarity
that frees your mind.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 2, 2012


Internal Tapestry

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We begin
with music-indexed memories
Scenes and signs that rise up with the songs
Laid down on their strains
Returning faithfully
every time the song is played

We add
Impressions from the day —
The rain outside,
The cozy orb of home,
Companionship and tasks,
The texture of our efforts 
and the thoughts that group around them

This becomes
another layer on the songs —
will mix with older memories:
Next time we play them
these images will surface with them, too
So the colors deepen and grow richer
So the days add flavor to our view.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 1, 2012


Sovereign

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Be alert but not afraid:
The wily lies with their insinuations
that try to catch you in the snare
of sorrow, slavery, and tiresome machinations
cannot intrude upon your power

As long as you are clear that you are free
and let no contradiction sit within
then nothing from outside of you can squelch you:
Like sprouts that break the concrete,
you will win

You will stay sovereign
when you know
there’s nothing that can undermine your soul
and since the heart of you is ever whole
no lie of brokenness can take control

Be alert but not afraid
for in the love with which you’re made
you can resist each lie that says
you’re any less than you.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 31, 2012