Tag Archives: love

No

Posted on by
Reply

This may be the game
but it is not mine
This may be the game
but it is not life

So much complexity
So many things to study
So many permutations
to distract us, keep us tangled

The hand you’re dealt, we’re told,
You have to play
You may be lucky, privileged or poor
Or maybe you are brilliant but disturbed
Addicted, disadvantaged, or a rising star

It only makes a little difference, though:
As long as we’ve consented to be playing
There isn’t very far that we can go
We all remain imprisoned in the game.

Today I mouth my infant words
of no
No, I won’t play; no, this is not my game
I won’t define you by your cards or course
I won’t pick up the dice of shame and blame
I won’t be cowed by game-incurred alarms
or things the game insists I have to prove
I won’t let any game-based definition
distract me from my purpose and my love.


©Wendy Mulhern
January 3, 2012



To my children

Posted on by
Reply

My hopes for you, I know, aren’t mine to give
And that is good —
You each must find your way
I know your lives were never mine to live
Your goals and purpose
Never mine to sway

And yet I wish for you
and yearn most deeply
That you would feel the present touch
of Spirit
The swift igniting joy that meets
that truth — you’re loved — 
relayed so you can hear it

My helpless knowledge that I have no sway
in this, or any other gift, leads me to pray
To seek a surer source
for your contentment:
What I can’t give
I leave in Spirit’s hand
As sure as you’re alive, you are attended
by all that makes you peaceful, pure, and grand.


©Wendy Mulhern
January 2, 2012



Romance

Posted on by
Reply

I took a cautious step
beyond the edge
I didn’t fall
I took another, checked my feet
They still stood strong
I jumped, I leaped
and next I’ll fly
For nothing is forbidden anymore

I made a world
I made it in my mind
I gave the sky a magic, stained glass blue
I used high clouds to mark its great expanse
I made a window into it for you
If you will join me
we can let our feet
be coated in the sun-warmed sand
and climb the driftwood, where it leans
above the rising tides
and revel in life’s interlocking, overlapping swirls
the waves, the wood, the sky
the shifting windows into worlds . . . 
I won’t believe a voice that says
my life course is constrained
To me belongs my mind
and all the pathways it contains.


©Wendy Mulhern
January 1, 2012



When we came together

Posted on by
Reply

We stepped into the forest of two worlds
where we could slip between the bars of light
and find each other in a separate place
where all our ions perfectly aligned
A quick magnetic jolt
an eager cleaving
synchronizing currents
swift believing
in all the signs of foreordained connection
the wonder of impossible perfection
Time slowed down, each movement magnified
Something monumental signified
in every touch.  And we were holy, sanctified
Anointed for our mission
as carriers of light
Keepers of the current
of that quickening delight
which can’t remain contained—
Its nature is to grow
till everyone is with us
caught up in its flow.


©Wendy Mulhern
December 27, 2011



For Edward, Christmas 2011

Posted on by
Reply

The words have been said, many times.

What matters more than words
is the homing
That which keeps us turning
back toward each other—
Some internal balance that is set
for us to always seek to lock together
spin as one—
A part that always searches for
its counterpart.

Home (for me) is where you are
and where we are
when we are one
When we stream together
Lie along each other
plunging down the course of life
like river currents side by side
that race and laugh and dip
and reconnect
Joyous whitewater of reunion.


©Wendy Mulhern
December 24, 2011



Goodbye Aphara

Posted on by
Reply

The time of grief for a dead bunny
Seems to be about forty-five minutes
A flowing of real tears
And loud cries
As the love bonds are being released
Hands gently, but forcibly unclasped

I see them let go
And let the lavish love
That they bestowed on her
Through many years
(Wherein she grew quickly
And then they also grew quickly)
Home slowly, but steadily
Toward themselves
Return to where it can serve them
Multiplied by their having given it
Ready to be given again

So we said goodbye
Light bundle of fur and affection
Leaving a hole in our days
Leaving her kiss in their hearts.
©Wendy Mulhern
December 19, 2011


More than survival

Posted on by
Reply

It may be
that love is so potent
we can survive
on just a tiny bit
We may think
if we can have
enough love to survive
we should be happy
We should then be willing
to slave through our days
herded and cordoned
cogs in massive machinations
of meaningless things
We may have been told
we don’t deserve more
That if we’re lucky we’ll have
a few loves in our life
which we can string as charms
along our chains
and limp from year to year
between the times our loves have shined
But look what we can have!
Look how love dissolves
all the expectations
Look how it fills us
and teaches us
We need more than survival
We need this love
that has filled us once
to now be here constantly
We need it to spread
like a flash flood
till it redefines everything
All landscapes now filled
with its presence.


©Wendy Mulhern
December 15, 2011



Love Paints

Posted on by
Reply

Love paints itself on everything
This street I climb, these clouds
like round beach stones immersed in blue
These trees, their limbs reached out
in praise
This house, with all the smells
I’m eager to escape

Love paints itself on everything
The faces of the regulars in that cafe
The smile and wave one gave me as I left
As if I, too, would come there every day—
I took it with me — unexpected gift

“Which muse,” he teased, “has led you?
“I’ll be keeping track.”
But every inspiration pours out love
It all comes back
To bless this fertile chamber where I grow 
my love to give it to the world.


©Wendy Mulhern
December 9, 2011



Empowered

Posted on by
Reply

To see you sovereign
is my delight:
to see you stand,
your power fully
at your own command.
You wield it, as you must,
from your abiding love
and so, implicitly, I trust
your truth.  And also your resolve.

And though the waves
of doubt and pain
may crash against your walls
I trust your strength
to persevere
till each aggressor falls.

And you will reach 
your valiant hand once more
To raise up anyone
who’s beaten down
and set them standing
upright on your shore
and walk with them
till they can walk alone.


©Wendy Mulhern
December 8, 2011