Solid Ground

I keep walking

and my steps grow firmer

as my trusts grow truer

I left behind the slippery trust

in the touted plums of living —

the narrow measures of success,

the things to brag about at parties

And then I had some other trusts —

the smooth progression of my life’s trajectory,

indefinite enduring of relationships —

dear trusts that failed me, too

And when I let them go,

I find something else underneath everything:

There may be many names for it,

but none that truly name it.

I sink in, and touch my feet

to solid ground.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 31, 2015

Walking Through

I will stand my ground,

and if the sand shifts beneath me

I will settle my feet in again,

I will lean into the wind

and I will not be desolate

I will close my eyes 

and blink into the knowing

of what holds me strong and steady,

I will wrap myself

in the practical rise

to the moment's exigencies,

the mantle of resolute calm

for an unknown course

and many miles to travel

I will walk on through,

for there is no other way.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 30, 2015

Let it Go

Well, you don’t hold up the world

by worrying, so let it go,

let it go

Seeds in the ground

don’t need your exhortations

to bide their time

and spring forth when they’re needed

And your body

doesn’t need you telling it to breathe,

telling it to beat its steady rhythm

Let it go, let it go

Everything comes home,

in its time. Even the venturing out

is part of it, part of the

ever-growing claiming and reclaiming

of its own —

its place in the divine dance of being.

It will do so without your worrying —

let it go.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 29, 2015

Starting Over

They often wished

they could start over again —

debts cancelled, unfortunate words

retracted, sideways first impressions

wiped away

They had the feeling

if they could only be seen

in their true light,

they would be understood,

if they were given a chance,

they could convey their true regard

Let us then consider:

Others have wished this

as much as we have.

Let’s give them a chance

to start over.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 28, 2015

Year’s End

There is, perhaps, a moment

for looking back along the year,

calling to remembrance

the things that were unknown,

the things we thought might be

before events rolled out their tracks,

other possibilities extinguished

by emerging facts

There’s always time

for flashes of gratitude

for what has developed —

understanding, skills acquired,

brightening deepening streams of love

There’s less time for wistfulness

at things left behind —

the wind here blows strong and steady,

bearing us onward

in our present purpose.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 27, 2015

Covered

There is a love deep enough

to reach your very lowest point,

to wrap you up and hold you

tender, safe

There is a love that answers

generations of woe,

long legacies of dashed hopes,

intransigent injustice

There is a love for which

the wildest writhings 

of your struggling heart

are no problem

You don’t have to be

small and polite

to qualify for Love’s covering —

don’t have to assume

you only get a small blanket

There is a love that can heal

all of your memories,

all of your doubts

all of your fears for the future

Here is love for you:

whatever you need,

you are covered.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 26, 2015

Foundation

Let me pause long enough

to find gravity,

internal cohesion,

the natural pull

to sink me

all the way down

to the silence

Though there be frenetic raging

on the surface,

though turbulent currents

attend my descent,

it will get quieter

as I go deeper

And I will find the settled peace

that undergirds everything,

I will sit still

and feel its radiance

rising in rays 

until it lights and calms the whole.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 24, 2015

Traveling

We roll by each other

in our steel boxes,

bound by the road

to a similar course,

each in a separate world

(a metaphor for how we move through life)

In each car, a mind,

each mind a mirror for the infinite,

each one a pool, unsearchable in depth,

and in each depth,

an ever-burning love

In each love, an endless store of strength,

a balance weight, a source of clear direction,

the thrilling, searing certainty

of being worthy, sovereign

So this is how we save the world,

not by riding up along the road,

but in the vertical connection

that holds us, perfect, to our source.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 23, 2015

Bait

If I buy that story

I will find myself reeled in,

jerked around, played,

and whatever craftiness

I may yet have

will be worn down

until I am subdued,

as evidence accrues 

that this is the unfortunate,

unalterable truth

But it is not.

I will swim clear of that story,

and any other ones

that cast us helpless,

taken in by tides, ruled by moons

I will remember

the silvery internal guide

that leads me safe and strong

through every deep.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 21, 2015

The Right Question

I will ask the right question

in the gentle morning

when dreams have run their course

and been forgotten

and dawn has sent its scouts ahead

and will come later

As surely as the rolling earth

will always keep a face beholding sun

I will ask the right question

and hear its true response.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 20, 2015

Lift Off

I could be coming to the point

where progress along the ground

becomes impossible,

where my feet no longer

can reach down, can find traction

And it doesn’t matter

that my brief hopes

to be a speedy runner

are dashed,

It doesn’t matter either

if the ground ends

just a few yards ahead,

and it may not matter

that I don’t know how to steer

This is not in my hands,

not in my feet either.

My heart is going home

so I guess

it has to bring me along.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 19, 2015

Waiting

Throughout the rainy day,

a quiet sense of order

filled the house. People coming, going,

tasks accomplished, 

music playing, soft lights glowing —

It was a day of nothing major,

but a visitor remarked

on the abiding peace. It’s been

a good day, in an unassuming way,

while we await the imperceptible

unfolding of a timeless truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 18, 2015

Empty

I’m learning that I do best

when I come empty —

with nothing that I think of as myself,

nothing to present, nothing to protect,

nothing to be measured, nothing to improve,

nothing to vaunt or hide,

nothing to be envied or to envy

Only my naked willingness

to be formed, like a flame

in the alchemy of interaction,

to discover myself and another

in the living touch of our connection

Here I am doubly blessed —

blessed by what you are

and blessed by what I rise to be

in this holy moment

where we meet.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 17, 2015

Welcoming

We put up lights

to welcome you home,

well knowing that

you must have home in you

to feel at home

You may bring it with you

or leave it behind,

or you could come searching for it —

for all those possibilities,

we summon light,

we celebrate you in our hearts,

we play the music,

prepare your place,

we tend the glow

that makes us home.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 16, 2015

Nothing More

I find myself suddenly

very small,

very still,

glad enough to have

nothing to say,

profoundly relieved

to realize

I’m not my life’s designer

Even more, I see

that it has never been my job

to design or to evaluate

any other life.

I am small and still

in the great hush of seeing

All these lives are each their own,

yet meshed together

in a design so many spectra vaster

than I can even count

These lives, like mine

are loved with such tenderness

there’s nothing I can say about it.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 15, 2015

Days to Come

In my dream we were walking

to the city — hundreds of thousands

of us, freeways full of us.

There were clouds of black smoke, too,

and sirens,

and trying to get across roadway barriers

And we were all helping each other,

moving with urgency,

moving to stand up for some imperative

(I don’t know if I knew what)

In my dream we were fearless,

for our unity was awesome.

May we be so as well

in days to come.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 13, 2015

Images

Those lurking, haunting images

don’t want to distress your heart,

don’t want to cause pain,

don’t want to be there

Their deep desire

is to be touched by the light of Truth

so they can burn up like moths,

illumining, in their brilliant moment,

the vastness of the Love

that holds you safe.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 12, 2015

Look

I was surprised once again

to see the kindness in the night sky

where the dark of clearness

interlapped  the lighter dark

of clouds

It seemed to hallow the earth

in its breath.

It still surprises me

that all I need to do is look —

no projections, no expectations required.

All I need to do is look —

the love is there.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 11, 2015