Wind blows smoke up the valley –
rain will take it down,
rain will take it down
This day pristine and lovely –
sullied by slag,
sullied by fire
The promises of spring –
trees leafing out,
luminous green,
the clear sky and the sun,
still here but now hooded
The wind comes from the south –
they say it will bring rain –
it may take spring back a notch
but clear the sky again.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 29, 2023
I was walking outside
in that grace-touched moment
when the warming sun suddenly
brings out all the scents –
new grass and dried flowers,
blossom and resin,
and the air is still fresh enough
to carry each scent and deliver it
like a caress, eliciting
joy like birdsong,
high and acrobatic,
everything I’m learning reprised
in the sweet awareness of presence
and the priceless importance
of everything here.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 26, 2023
We, too, stand and let the light glow through us,
we, too, are formed in this communion,
we, too, reach out and grow,
nourished by what shines on us,
what shines us
And that compelling brilliance
you may see for just a moment
is really what we are, all of the time.
We stay attuned to this,
for this is all we need,
all we need and all we really know.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 12, 2023
In spring there is no thought
of being trapped in winter’s guarding case –
attention, rather, focuses
on rising sap, where energy can stretch,
on what was promised
in the fall, and put to sleep,
and now awakens,
discovering its form, its destiny,
its place in time, the season of its place,
and what was sheathed unfurls
in unencumbered grace.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 10, 2023
Tucked between the spans of rain
and the subtle give of spring,
where morning’s chill yields sooner
and evening’s chill comes later,
I find I can imagine ease,
where needed tasks make room for each other,
and we can grow abundance,
and manage it,
and bring the blessings in
and share them fully –
seeds can bring forth a hundredfold,
and as we learn their rhythms,
maybe we can, too.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 5, 2023
The rain comes through
chased by sun,
again and again
like children at play
These trees stand glowing,
reddened from awakened sap,
starting to bud,
ready to leaf out,
their time not yet at hand,
but close. I feel the same.
©Wendy Mulhern
April 2, 2023
The sun came up behind me
and gave me a giggle of joy –
not only for its shining, but for the gift
of having work to do outside,
and having done it,
and the promise of more tomorrow,
and the prospect of becoming competent,
able to hold all this life in my hands
and see it come forth.
©Wendy Mulhern
March 11, 2023
And as for the things I was thinking about,
in the air that feels like spring
while frogs sing in the north pond,
and the list of things to do
is long enough
that whole categories routinely
drop into the void,
and we feel good if there’s one thing
we can check off the list
(though fifteen more creep onto it)
I forget what I was thinking about,
or what leaves me this odd contentment
while the fire has warmed the room
as evening slides towards night
and our moments, while prosaic,
show small signs of the gravitas
of eternity.
©Wendy Mulhern
February 6, 2023
It’s a year of long grass –
seed heads at face height sometimes,
clover our feet disappear in,
visually soft, full of many colors
within the green
It’s a year of eager growth
encouraged by forgiveness –
something within rising continually up,
touching the softness,
reaching into it
Everything has been washed clean.
We, too, can feel it,
we, too, discover flowers
that may not have bloomed
(at least not like this)
for many years.
We offer our fields as gift,
as mystery, as thanks.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 1, 2022
The cohesive scatter of the stars,
the elegant tangle of grasses and forbs
in the eager tumble of spring,
the spray of colors across the fields,
red and purple seed heads,
silver sunlit shafts glinting
in the waves of wind
If you can see this,
and can connect the dots of wonder,
it can shake you out of doubt
to reconsider –
aren’t you, too, held
in the same expansive order
that flings light across the day
and stars across the sky?
©Wendy Mulhern
May 22, 2022