Germination

In this uncharted place,

Seeds are my teachers —

Some have given their lives

for my learning,

teaching, in their dying,

what they needed

As for me, what I owe

is rapt attention —

I can’t assume I know a single thing —

This humble openness

is my gift

in which a seed may sprout —

I must maintain it

free of arrogance,

free of crippling doubt

They are so small 

to command 

so much of my time!

I imagine each of them

a fruiting plant, a meal,

a harvest . . . 

My understanding

is a tiny grain,

A well-soaked seed

ready to sprout —

So much it needs to grow

to be robust, a living system

thriving on its own

that will let me nurture life

with what I know.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 6, 2014

No more answers

Well, there may be answers

but they’re not pre-packaged,

not catalogued, not stored away

to be pulled out when mildly relevant,

slapped into self-congratulating use

The only answers

must rise integrally from the brew,

kambucha mothers to the moment’s process —

They are not for solving things

but for savoring

the slow, unlabored turn toward resolution,

the feeding and the growth

of what is formed when we’re together

when our seeking hunger

is answer to each other

We live here —

Not in the artifact

but in our living thought —

the new, the quick,

the nourishment

of what we each have brought.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 4, 2014

Interlude with Cherry Blossoms

Fallen blossoms coat the grass, the streets,

Petals float into my open window,

I am guided here

by something larger

than my own design,

So I will wait

Pale pink mixes with random raindrops,

Wind stirs up the mix and sets it down,

Pale green emerges on the trees

where pink has fallen,

In a little while, I guess,

I’ll head for home

This is a street with cars, with lawns, with houses,

Not many people though, this time of day,

The petals make their way 

in silent offering,

life-gift to earth,

a blessing that will stay.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 3, 2014

Goodbye, Hello

Goodbye overflowing, easy joys,

Goodbye the high of bright connection,

Goodbye astonishment of comfort,

and the glow of freely shared affection

Hello craggy upward trail,

expanding vistas promised in the thinning air

Hello strong rush of solar plexus,

heart ascending into deeper care

Goodbye oblivion of needs,

Hello to standing up for what is fair,

Goodbye to pleasure on its own account,

Hello hard work and all its rich rewards

And if I persevere along this climb,

Perhaps at higher turns I’ll come around

to find those older joys have multiplied,

their blessings clear, their purpose

now more sound.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 2, 2014

Lenses

Through some lenses

it’s easier

to see people’s blindness

than their lights —

Those are the lenses

affixed to us like blinders

to make us go a way

we haven’t chosen,

and wouldn’t want —

the way in which

before the joy (we’re told)

must come the suffering —

Suffering to pay the price,

suffering for us or them,

suffering to earn the prize

or wrest it from another.

Try these lenses:

They’re designed

to magnify the lights —

The light behind each effort,

each ungraceful try,

each stumble,

The light of love that longs

for one straight chance

to be seen true,

the light of love that,

when you see it,

will come through.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 1, 2014

Sinkhole

There was a sinkhole

underneath my calm,

It took me down,

it let me sit in darkness

while the damp spot seeped outward,

It let me be suffused

with what would probably

condense as tears

if more collected

But I couldn’t stay there,

for there was simply

insufficient depth

to make it worth the effort

And the sun was shining

and there was more life

in forgetting the whole thing

and moving on.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 31, 2014

To the Core

There is no easy path

There is no glib path

and when you go under

into the dark and twisted course

that brings you to the depths,

you go alone

No one can go through the fire for you

And no one, like you,

will be lit up by that singular glow

found only at the concentrated core

— heart of everything —

Your light is like none other,

like no one else’s.

It’s your integrity

that compels you

to take the dive,

It’s your integrity

that brings you out alive.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 30, 2014