Settled

 

Fog from the river rises up
to settle down in blessed rest
between the trees

In between the posturing of progress,
enduring facts of being rest, just like that,
along the landscape

And in the centered knowing
of every heart
rests the latent power
to shine its essence timelessly,
past redeemed, future safe,
life embraced,
umbrellaed in the substance
of the present hour.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 31, 2022

Spherical

 

Contemplating stars,
mycelium, trees,
the realm of my perception,
and the path networks
of birds, of deer, of insects,
I start to see
we are all spherical  -
awareness emanating from our center,
branches of consciousness
exploring, lacing,
drawing all the rich connections,
sharing the brightness
to light our home.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 30, 2022

In conversation

 

See these strong shining lines
made of gladness for each other,
hearing of each other's times,
imagining the brightness that must attend
such a bounty of family ties

I am glad to come rich to the conversation,
able to offer my happy account,
the better to help you feel easy,
the better to mirror sincerely
the glow that your sharing conveys.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 27, 2022

Smallest things

 

I see the smallest things can rescue me  -
a string of lights, an ornament, a laugh,
the space to listen, and the joy of being heard,
remind me of what binds us to our source

Tonight the frogs are back,
singing from the north pond,
tonight my path of hope is reestablished.
Any tatters in the shroud
let light come pouring through,
help me remember where we are
and what I am.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 25, 2022

Underlying light

 

I consider the brightness
that makes all this possible  -
presence of substance,
primal truth of everything,
molten beneath a very thin crust,
goodness in essence, ready to break through

Look - see how it's done so
here in these evening moments
where we laughed, and made music,
joined rhythms together,
rode on one sound we collectively made,
celebrated the light

And behind it, the brightness
that makes it all possible,
present and primal,
truth of our substance,
bearing us through our days,
authoring all our ways,
cause of our being
our love and delight.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 24, 2022

Upon the mountains

 

The beauty of feet is their precision
along the mountain paths,
the way they leap along the stones
and land deftly
each rugged step,
and how they never falter,
for they move in the good news
they are bringing. And they bring
the peace that supplants time,
establishing its own flow
of unlabored unfolding,
each moment holy

The messenger reaps joy
from truth-placed feet.
All who hear the message
bless them, too.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 23, 2022

Boxes

 

It's understandable if you decide
to step into the box offered,
draw your feet in, curl up
to find the comfort of a safe place

The daily roads have many boxes,
different places, different shapes and sizes,
some for you, some not,
(the choices fewer when you look closer)

But you could also choose
to be defined  by where you walk,
and how you open out each day,
and how your deep hope carries you
to broader, ever unconfining, views.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 21, 2022

Light within

 

In my time
I've come to find
in every darkness
a light within,
stars shining up out of a well,
bright sheen across the body of a crow,
the steady dawn of truth amidst a maelstrom of confusion,
the fact of worth that breaks the numbness of despair

Even the black silence of coercion
is ultimately proved nothing,
powerless against the light of Spirit,
showing each of us our access to infinity,
sovereignty ours for all eternity.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 20, 2022

The Sun Stands Still

 

In the solstice silence,
everything at rest,
in the deep and settled pause,
all is at peace

We find it within,
where we are no longer waiting,
having given that up to trust -
trust that needs no brooding,
happy closed eyes of a child with a soft pillow
and a loved lullaby

This we will ride on till morning,
this we will hold through the night,
this will impel our next purposeful movement,
rising with splash in a fountain of light.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 19, 2022

Multiplication

 

Thick frost crystals after a starry night,
guests  with smiles and eyes that dance with light,
a joy that seems to stream from nowhere
in every gathering of life

I strive to find the right words,
line up the meanings and the feelings
so my intent to bless may be believed,
the whole cloth of my thought received

And in this offering and its reception,
our energy is multiplied  -
this is a key to ending lack,
with every  need for every life supplied.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 18, 2022

The holy city

 

The holy city
comes softly present within,
infusing my thought with chords,
showing the substance,
showing the centered poise
power and peace call their source

Of course we have always needed the infinite,
needed intelligence,
needed desire

Everything true in us
always has lived here -
to every part
the city is known,
the beauty of holiness
leads us to find it
leads us to find it home.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 16, 2022

Bread

 

I'm learning the ways of bread,
and it's much like
learning the ways of people,
customary treatments and assumptions
proved far different
from what will do the best

The nuance needs attention,
and attention
is more valuable than rules,
and to have a gentle hand,
I must know what I am working with -
each moment has its own requirement,
each touch, its perfect place and time.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 15, 2022

Bears

 

I had a dream about
you playing with bears in the surf,
showing me a video afterwards,
the push of your hand
against the long wet fur,
a large black rock,
waves gliding in

It was affectionate
and so appropriate,
a thing to share,
a thing to be proud of you for,
salty and wet and unafraid,
riding your love like a wave.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 14, 2022

Solstice approaches

 

Last light, more rain,
the days pull in close,
tight cloaked around the small glow of sun

We stretch ourselves to summon more resilience,
enough imagination
to reserve some space around ourselves,
to keep the darkness at arm's length.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 11, 2022

Room

 

I've  been here before.
This time I intend
to never leave -
I will bring this room with me
when I drive, when I ride,
when I dream, when I stride,
I will take it with me,
an enclosing sphere,
a protecting glow,
a law, a way of being -
I will walk in the blessing,
letting in teach me
to live the only truth I need to know.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 10, 2022

Proof of God

 

You may be sovereign
but you are not alone

This is the miracle of it -
how you're equipped to love

Which shows there is relationship,
and in the spark connecting us,
there is the joy that makes us want to be,
there is the joy that makes us multiply

It's simple, really -
follow your desire back -
you'll see that you're not meant to be alone,
and also that you're not.
Companionship reveals the fact of God.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 9, 2022

The field

 

In the field of calm
nothing is disturbed -
the patterns and the colors grow together,
their harmony locks in,
and the resounding hum
rises in reverberating light,
clear and true

It doesn't matter whether my words
were right on or not,
or whether they were received -
the field itself holds the message
and imparts it
to you and me the same.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 8, 2022

The important thing

 

You might be borne
by golden jet stream
to float high, in your dream,
among the canyons,
you might dream that you wake up
to find yourself snagged by brambles,
and be amused

You might trace some of those images
back to some waking moments
of the day before  -
(the color of a copper beech,
a volunteer putting a brambly vine
into a pail)

The important thing is joy -
can you take it with you
through the dream and out the other side?
Are your moments kindled
to ignite more? If you need a spark,
please take one from me -
I have plenty.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 7, 2022

The tribe of yes

 

It's not so hard
to be of the tribe of yes,
the ones that make you glad you're here,
the ones that want you
and everything you are

It's not so hard
to hold the yes till it soaks through
any layers of worry and self doubt,
and proves itself to be
the only thing that's there

Look how we soften,
look how we shine
when held so easily
in the glowing yes
of the tribe.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 6, 2022

Sheen

 

In my image of you,
your toes and wing tips
are dipped in gold -
you have a sheen about you

And you are held
in high regard
by all the threads
that weave you into place,
that hold your context
and your community

In my image of you,
you are blessed - it is a buoyancy
that lifts you clear above
any kind of judgment  -
your very definition
is safe.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 5, 2022

Solid ground

 

Today I take a stand
for solid ground.

And anything that seems to be a wobble,
a thing to be grabbed quick before it falls,
and anything that's built on fear,
or anything that's built on lack -
none of these can sway me in the least

For I am set to be here,
and I am set to witness,
and I am set to show
we are more potent than we knew

We are here to show
that nothing topples what is true -
We are here to stand on solid ground.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 4, 2022

Promise

 

I've given up knowing
what should be in my days,
what should be in my years

(having come up with terrifying emptiness
one too many times)

I've given up thinking
I could choose this, or steer
my world to any kind of outcome

My faith, then, is in the daily gifts -
the promise in bright sparkles,
the sparkle of bright promise,
that which comes steady and confident
into my mind, and shows me what I'm here for,
if only for today.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 3, 2022


I

Adventure

 

We name it an adventure,
we let the hours accumulate
until they rattle
in the darkened house

The outside weather
has some say in the matter,
but we are quite comfortable
even with less electric

We name it an adventure,
and that's important,
for that naming gives us what we need
to get through darkness,
to power on.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 1, 2022