I’d rather have no drama
and nothing to say
than something made up,
claiming attention
but lacking the tone
that fills all the spaces
with presence
I’d rather wait silent
and so make an opening —
place for a thing that’s just forming
to gather, to grow, to get strong,
and send its sweet tendrils
in untouched directions
to cleave the clear air with its song.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 22, 2018
There might be other rhythms here,
rain in the gutter, metallic tick and trickle,
rain on the window, the hum
of spaces in between —
rhythms to hear when the stereo’s off,
music against the quiet
You get your message across
by listening, more than by speaking,
by finding, like these raindrops,
the place where understanding trickles in,
and where it glances off,
and needs to be collected, redirected
You listen, and your message finds its way
like water, into the waiting ground.
©Wendy Mulhern
October 27, 2018
Afterwards, I would release myself
from the rhythm of listening,
the quick catching on the cadence
of thought, of feeling,
riding down the tale
through its pauses and its dramas
circling in to its conclusion
The energy it takes
is not trivial — the close attention
as in dance, the role of follow
Afterwards, I would notice
how still and even my breath could be,
sinking into the quiet,
submerging into a noticing
that has no words.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 30, 2018
And if you need to talk for a long time,
I can listen for a long time.
I can follow your face and voice
through the laughter, through all those
reflections and memories, down
to the place of tears, back out again,
if you want to keep talking.
I don’t need to say anything
till you’re really done,
and I can’t know what I’ll say
until we get there.
This is a safe place —
you can surely know
that I will hold you in compassion
through the whole anguished tale,
I will hold steady
and yes, I will pray.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 16, 2016