Tag Archives: gifts

Birthday gifts

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The bright report of basil at my fingertips,
and fresh chopped garlic when I came inside,
were echoed in the sweet strains
of guitar strings tuning  –
all sending messages across the air

Then there was breakfast,
and there were songs played,
and there was conversation in the cool house

And then submergence
in a cold creek,
and heat to warm us when we came out

In early evening
the sunlight plays along the walls
while shadows outside scam impressions
(false for now) of cooling.
The contentment that embraced me
just a few days ago
still bathes my world. And truly, that’s enough.

©Wendy Mulhern
July 15, 2023

True Gifts

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When freed from their shells
the gifts course through you,
providing structure
responsive as trees,
springing with their corded light
to bud as life,
remaining in your memory
as part of who you are

These gifts can’t miss or fade –
they will multiply
in what you are
and what you give in turn.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 8, 2022

Bright Gift

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The day was like this –
the kindness of others
letting me feel like a bright gift,
hoping I have done the same,
have passed the gift along,
sensing I have done so,
which occasioned the rich feeling
in the first place

There can be rainbows
in unexpected places  –
gifts of light which emphasize:
things here are truly crafted
for our joy. Our purpose
is to see it multiply.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 11, 2021

In Balance

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There is no imbalance in this:

The gift comes forth, it is received,
the need is felt, then met,
no debts pile up on one side of the scale,
no offerings untouched against the door

The blessing finds its level just like water:

What you bring is just what is most needed,
what you receive fulfils another’s joy,
what you have honed for barren years
will prove the perfect tool,
the fruits will multiply to match your labor

This is the law – you’ll find there is no other
(though many lies have tried to hide the truth)
anythong you thought was lost
you will recover,
with all your moments put to perfect use.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 3,  2021

Reckoning

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Within this reckoning
of what I know
and what I owe,
and what it would take
to be free and clear,
I see that I have to keep giving,
have to keep giving up
every single excuse
I make for myself,
have to keep giving up the self
that measures things
in terms of finite gifts,
have to accept
the infinite demand,
to reap the Infinity
of the I Am.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 15, 2021

Gifts

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How could I have thought
my gifts were mine to keep?
– for they were gifts, which means
they must be given …

And how could I have thought
the gift would come from me
in a straight channel, like a raindrop
down a window?

When clearly every gift
is what is given us
so we can bring it
to the neverending flow
like water in a river
that comes to it from everywhere  –
all the watershed calling it forth,
birthing it with every contribution
to celebrate its neverending source.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 24, 2021

Lessons in fire tending

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For.the fire.to thrive,
the air needs a free exit.

True, it needs an open space for intake,
but that is not enough  –
if it’s held in, if it is clogged at the top,
the fire will be air-starved,
it will grow cool and dull and orange
and cloud up the glass door,
which, when you open,
will pour smoke into the room

To have a clean fire,
the chimney trap
needs to be free of soot
so air can get out
as freely as it comes in

I’m thinking this is also true
of gifts. That gratitude glows bright
in the breath of generosity,
and love – love needs
a constant letting go.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 30, 2020

Assessment

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And if I didn’t avail myself
of all the gifts of the day —
if I saw the lifting light of afternoon
but didn’t venture out,
if I saw the pink of eastern clouds
hint of splendid setting in the west
but stayed inside

I still enjoyed the coziness,
the being warm and dry,
the light and heat
available at fingertips

I still enjoyed the prospect
of a peace so unassailable
that everyone, so gratefully
would sink, delighted, in,
cradled, welcomed, and redeemed,
and thus made new.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 7, 2019

Faustian Bargain

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You need no faustian bargain.
All the gifts you ever have desired
are yours immutably,
before time, perhaps before embodiment,
in full force still.
You can claim them
without a catch, without a price

They all are yours to give,
and, in giving, yours to bless.
In blessing, you are blessed,
along the circle leading back to your desire,
continuing and ever new,
as it is written,
as it will ever be.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 15, 2017