The rhythm of summer

Everything is moving in the rhythm

of summer —

sound of wind chimes,

scent of privet,

transfixing flit of

not-quite-random insects,

play of light on spider webs,

crows in conversation —

There is something to learn from this,

something to take with me

from the unhurried connection of events,

the space between

that’s long enough for slack,

supple so it ripples smoothly.

Here where it’s too hot

for spiking urgency

or any worry,

things still progress

prodigiously,

with ample room

to take their perfect time.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 30, 2013

Reflections while driving home from recovering my car after it was towed from where my children parked it

I’m grateful that you’re here,

grateful that we could bail you out

and bring you home,

and have you in our lives,

Grateful that this, too,

is life-building,

and you will be stronger

because of it

Grateful to have learned

(though sorry that I didn’t learn it sooner)

that we only have one job

concerning you,

which is to see you —

to behold, in awe, your essence,

far more intricate and comprehensive

than we could grasp in a moment

or in years,

though we might glimpse it

in either years or moments . . .

No need to compel or criticize —

We only need (and need to only)

see and celebrate

what you bring,

what you give,

what you are.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 29, 2013

Ecology

Nothing is condemned,

Nothing thrown away —

There are so many branches

along life’s paths —

So many cycles

at every speed and scale

and everything is moving,

aligned in some great plan,

rolling out the endless course of life

No one is condemned,

No one cast aside,

for every life uniquely serves its purpose

and all shall be embraced,

for everyone belongs

and all of us

are needed where we are.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 28, 2013

My Final Offer

There is no part of my desire

that I’m willing to give up.

I insist on all the goodness

that I crave:

The part about the living land

and our deep kinship with it;

The part about our well-honed gifts

and all the richness shared in their fruition;

The part about our home

and all the others who live with us;

The part about the healing of the earth;

All these must be included

in the goodness we acquire,

No part may be excluded from the vision.

I won’t agree to any less

and so it must be given.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 27, 2013

Entering

Bring nothing with you,

for everything you need

is in your power to see what’s here

And there’s a lightness in knowing

every moment has, within it,

deep wells of richness,

plenty for your present thriving

And there’s no lack

of the substance in yourself

that calls forth that dark glow —

the subterranean shining

that quenches every thirst.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 26, 2013

Riding the beast

The lengths of highway

flex their strength

like muscular snakes.

We who have thought 

they lived to serve us

start to feel our big mistake,

Start to sense how trapped we’ve been

in the grid of roads,

in the grid of time,

in the grip of (up till now)

unquestioned rules

that say we have to ride the snakes

and serve the hours 

and not complain

when (for our safety)

more and more of liberty

is locked away.

If we are to escape,

we must slide, softly,

off the back of what we have been riding,

Find ourselves together off the grid,

Build the places in between

until they make new paths

for all our energies.

Let the beast grow old and still

through lack of use,

Give our every effort to our truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 25, 2013

Incubation

There is great value

in the unformed place

where the bee dance of particles

buzzes and clusters,

groups and regroups,

and a new understanding

can start to emerge,

something that’s shared,

something that joins

entities that had been separate

in some grand and wild

sliding together space

where all prior sets

of intents and opinions

are widely thrown away

And in the fresh fertility of union,

quick shoots start up,

vigorous and smooth.

New air is touched

in wonder by leaves

that had been, till then,

unimagined,

that now can take their place 

in the lush, emergent forest,

doing the sun work

to bring the great dream into being.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 24, 2013