Opinions II

Opinions are like snapshots

Frozen impressions

Maybe true in their moment

But static —

When you’re holding them

you’re not seeing

the moving truth of now

If you think that you're comprised of your opinions,

Each time you meet someone you’ll  think

for you to get along, your opinions have to match

You’ll pull them out, negotiate

and maybe you’ll be sad

to find that no one there agrees with you

But if instead you know that you’re comprised

of the dynamic interaction

with what comes before your eyes,

with every opportunity to be amazed,

to understand and value things

in your inimitable way

to co-create the truth 

with others who are present

You will find

remarkable confluence 

of a satisfying oneness

and a lovely, bracing playground 

for your mind.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 4, 2012

View out the window

-Maxwelton Aerie, July 3, 2012

The urgency of growth

captured in a gesture

of kiwi vines reaching —

a faint dusting of red

along the underside of a leaf

light shining through it

Given voice by the songbirds

intimate and plentiful

Celebrated by a wild profusion

of high-climbing roses

in shades of orange and yellow

More flowers as you scan —

fireworks in hot pink

poppies in peach

Pastures beyond

darkened and illuminated in patches

by dramatic skies

Everything is rising up 

in the dance of sun and rain

©Wendy Mulhern

July 3, 2012

Alpaca Shearing

Feels like an honest day’s work

Hands dirty, clothes dirty

Body fatigued

Easy to slip from attention 

to numbness

and on into sleep

Feels good to work as a team

Never abating the pace of the labor —

Hum of the motion of sharing the effort —

till every last thing is done

Heat of the animals

Heaving and powerful —

Holding them firmly

while soothing them softly

Treat them with iron and silk

The sound and the smell of the shears

Precision and speed of the shearer

The texture and spring of the fiber

Gathered up quickly

and passed to the sorters

in grade labeled baskets

over the fence

And I didn’t feel tired till the pause

when a wave from behind me

rose up and engulfed me

and sent me to where

all the ambient sounds —

bird calls and bleating —

took on different meanings

drifting me closer to dream.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 2, 2012

The necessity of trust

Here is the openness of trust:

that, all permissions granted,

in freedom to do anything we want,

the things we choose

will trend toward what will bless

That in the field where nothing is forbidden —

No kind of movement,

words, thoughts or emotions —

Our own divinity will guide us with precision

to grace of body, mind and interaction

Here is the necessity of trust:

Each gift we have needs freedom to unfold

to stretch out perfectly

and fill its purpose

Not from a regiment imposed on it

But because, internally

it must.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 30, 2012

Relativity

Everything changes

No one’s sense of self is static

Each one grows

Things you were so sure

would be impossible for them

become their norm

And things you thought you’d never do

You learn 

(That’s why it makes no sense

to hold on to a past offense)

Nothing changes

The primal pattern reasserts itself forever

The track of every orbit orchestrated

The cords of union hold us fast together

However far we think we may have skated

(That’s why we recognize ourselves

in everybody else)

Never too far from home

Never too far

from where we can close our eyes

And let the scene reframe

In that bright centered place

From whence we always came

(The way of being that we always hoped to learn

And where, in soft precision, we return.)

©Wendy Mulhern

June 29, 2012

Kids playing soccer in the park

Focus power

Focus kinetic skill

Concentrate the energy

Make it do your will

Let it return, so it can fulfill

that sense of presence

that brings you joy

though you don’t name it

nor consciously employ the game as therapy

For you it’s fun

But there is more to it

for in your sending forth

and trapping back

you have created some kind of spirit track

The vectors emanate from where you run

You and the ball and field becoming one

magically connected to your team

So suddenly I understand

This isn’t pointless playing with a ball

This is the growing practice of command:

By owning this part of your world

you own it all.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 28, 2012

Angel Wings

As I was driving home

the sky was full of angel wings —

Angel wings of all kinds

and I 

having slid through two tunnels of sleepiness

(the first one, a battle with my eyelids;

the second, a little closer to surrender)

Was finally awake enough 

to take in their splendid spread

of grays and whites and yellows 

against the generous blue

Portending something

(I hope)

greater than another day of rain.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 27, 2012