Light Song

Light sings through the woods like wind,

gold and shadows are its song,

it passes through them as through lace,

praising their interweavings

Late in the day, when ground

has passed to shadow,

the tops of trees still glow, still sing —

those heads first tousled by the morning

are last to see the sun’s rays leave.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 31, 2018

photo by Pam Cassel

Upward

We find our way to climb

like birds, like vines,

counter thrust to the weight of us,

oblivious of time

This aspiration

breathes through us constantly

whether we know it or not,

whether or not we’re trying —

we will go higher

in natural response

to what looks up within 

and always rises.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 30, 2018

Could Be

Could be a lot of that stuff

I’ll throw under the bed

and not think about for awhile

Maybe there’s a way of thinking about things

that is much clearer than all my habits.

The need, it seems, is to keep those habits

from jumping all over the new thoughts

Could be a practice of silence

and meek observation

with dew all around my eyes

reminding me with each blink

what it is to be new

will help.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 29, 2018

Viewpoint

I don’t even feel like looking

at the end of the year —

I have no urging towards retrospectives.

I don’t want to look at next year, either —

I have no interest in resolutions

There will be things in the year,

events and growth and changes,

but I have no sense I can control them.

They will come through like storms

or sprout like seeds,

I will await them

but they will take me by surprise —

I have no view of them but this one,

on the ground, peering through vines and branches,

taking the next step.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 28, 2018

Awaiting

There is a truth I can’t tell you,

so I’ll wait

to hear you tell it to me,

knowing you will do so,

as it is the best news

of a moment, a lifetime,

and you will find it wonderful

and unsuppressible

It will pour out of you

like birdsong

and I will rejoice.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 27, 2018

Simply

It is a simple thing

being here, in the land of reflection

There may be refractions,

bright angles, shafts of light

coming in from unexpected places —

they magnify the radiance,

they show its different facets

Sometimes I can trace them,

sometimes not. Yet simply

I am filled up with the glow

and simply

I am satisfied.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 26, 2018

Step by Step

Well, we had to do the best we knew,

we had to bring the gifts we had —

what we understood, 

what we experienced

and thus believed

It took the whole of us —

there wasn’t enough light

in any sliver of our selves

for us to see by, for us to feel

the magnitude of life

We had to wrap our arms around it all,

even what was flawed,

even what had been rejected

by various external standards

When we embraced us all,

there was enough light

for us to comprehend

what we are made of. From there

we had enough abundance

to find our way home.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 24, 2018

Time Travel

I let myself float

in the golden light and sound

of Christmas — bright peace

suffuses me, everyone

is haloed. This liquid

dissolves time, at least

for a moment, and I travel

through the years, along

the glow lines,

reaching back

to all the Christmases

where this illumination

punctuates the year.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 23, 2018

Silently

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

Lightly

Let my thought lift

like vapor at morning light,

separating, rising from the earth,

let my concerns disperse

in the sun’s clear radiance

I don’t need heaviness,

I don’t need worry,

don’t need to hold on to everything —

That which will bless me,

that which I am,

rests light as sunshine

on my head.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 21, 2018

Winter Solstice Ride

Maybe there isn’t an easy way.

Maybe my journey forward

is long and hard. My joy, though,

is that there is a way,

and I can take it on

Today the winter solstice sun

has shined its gift, benevolent,

while rays of clouds assembled

the day before the storm

The sea, surprising in its paleness,

has given illustration:

this is the light, so live in it,

filled, transparent, humble, vast

The rain that comes tomorrow,

will offer its own gifts. If I can stay

reflective, true, responsive, kind,

I’ll know where next to set my foot

and that will be enough.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 20, 2018

Silent

Let the silence settle

through the clear, cold water,

let the ripples gleam in winter sun

There could be a long time

where nothing is said

while the sun sets early

and the moon is already high

There is a truth

which shows itself without words,

there is a knowing

that is like light patterns —

silent, but still expressive,

or lilting in voice when it sings.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 19, 2018

Unawakened

We rely on each other

and we let each other down

in small ways and in big ways

every day

We feel the crush of disappointment

but we keep on reaching out

because we think we have no choice.

Sometimes our efforts are rewarded,

if briefly

Our words and our intentions

go out like threads. They tangle,

they fall away. We try again

but often with the same results

We think we need each other

and we feel our need

is seldom satisfied.

We fall together unawakened

through the dream.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 17, 2018

Uncontained

Though I often see myself as a container,

I am not a container, nor yet

an essence contained

I try to see myself

as the response to a wish,

an answer to a summons,

that which is awakened when the dream ends

I try to feel how my being

rises to the touch of the moment,

thrilled consequence of Life’s desire to be

Thus uncontained, my presence serves the infinite,

collecting nothing but not empty —

free.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 16, 2018

Serene …

Because the pitching waves

and all the raw winds

and the destruction, and the sharp shards

were merely shadows,

shapes projected on our forms

We had been frightened

thinking each dark image falling on us

was a wound, a defect, or a dread curse

that we must overcome

But then we saw the same pictures

on everyone, and started to suspect

none of these flaws

had been internal

We started to reflect

on all the light within

and we became uncowed

by flickering shadows

So we became serene —

we have no battle.

Our sight is clear, our day is clean,

and we are free.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 15, 2018

Dry

I felt my vessel

had become a sieve,

suddenly unable

to capture and retain

that which would slake my thirst

For though the day was not devoid of brightness,

I found no pool within,

in which to reflect —

just a dry concavity

in which to feel alone,

a place collecting shadows

and the sound of bones.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 13, 2018

Every Human Face

Every human face,

every packed for travel,

masked to the public,

spilling secrets anyway

human face

has its own center, 

its own world,

each with its maps and longings,

its paths and landmarks,

hopes and strategies

And no matter what stories

they tell themselves

and no matter what anyone thinks,

each world is turning

with an order and a harmony

we humans hardly notice,

though it hums through all our moments

and keeps us here, alive.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 11, 2018

Gathering

This is not the end.

This is the gathering,

the quick forming of a circle

that pools light, exudes warm,

and sets us remembering

what we are here for anyway,

sets us thinking

this is so easy,

this is really so very simple,

this is so much what we’ve always been about —

why didn’t we come to it sooner?

©Wendy Mulhern

December 10, 2018

Purge

Awaiting the cleansing

I catch myself bracing

for the onslaught of rushing water,

or is it fire? the truth so huge

it will purge me of everything

I thought was my substance, but isn’t

As if whoever that is, who braces

and anticipates, had anything

to do with me. No doubt

it will be among the first things

swept away, and then I’ll notice

that I was always

one with my creator.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 9, 2018

Tableau

It was a time of

birds and boats

and floating mountains

and, within the now established fact

of winter, a softening,

brought on by clouds

that blanketed the night

and now let sun across

the distant banks and peaks,

colors and coldness both muted,

a space for gentleness to rise

and be felt

by everything that shared this day.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 8, 2018

The music catches you

The music catches you.

If you think you’re falling

or if you think you want to fly

or if you’re missing the connection 

of the embracing web

You can go out, open,

you can stretch your arms wide —

the music catches you

and bears you up.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 6, 2018

Sound Bath

We were all very happy to share

the stories of our success,

the odds we faced

and how we overcame,

and what instruction could be gained

from our example

But were we willing also

to give the gift of being

one who receives another’s words

and goes up higher? 

How we all long for that kind of exchange!

—Where our words are taken in, and resonate

to match and amplify our starting tone,

so we together bathe in sound,

soaking in the rich harmonics

that make us feel ignited and at home.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 5, 2018

Instantly

You have done well, my friend —

you can stop measuring.

No need to weigh yourself —

you are your own balance

No need to look for flaws,

not in yourself, and not in others —

they won’t be on the test,

won’t be collected or compared,

won’t be evaluated

You can present yourself

clear and simple as one step forward

in which you are instantly

filled up with light.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 4, 2018

Festival of Lights

Indeed, for each of you is a light —

We bask in dappled illumination,

the moving brightness of each of you

multiplied each time you interact

We are so blessed

by each of you. And more —

you all together

comprise this feast, become this exaltation,

enough, for sure, to light the temple

eight days, that is,

eternity plus one.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 2, 2018

The Eye of the One

We come out of our cubicles,

out of our discrete and one-toned sparkles,

out of our dispersal into many,

back to the eye of the One

We may spread out across the surface,

we may refract, we may go deep,

we may be graced with different reflections,

but we still hail from 

the same light source

and holographically contain the whole

And so we see we are not strangers —

could not be, could not have ever been —

in this we’ll know as we’ve been ever known,

in this we’ll see as we are seen.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 1, 2018