Time and Being

Everything you are, you’ve always been —

We see you through the course of time

to help us understand

The fullness of your being

is more than we’re equipped

to take in at a single view

We see the infant, and the youth,

and what we call the arc of your progression

as if each were the only you extant

Whereas, in fact, your being is

the whole of them, and more —

a thing we’d know if we saw more dimensions

We see us through the course of time

and still don’t understand — our view of life is just a scan

across the field of what we’ve always been

And nothing’s lost —

no radiance can fail to show or cease to shine,

and all we are is here for us to be.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 12, 2016

Bread of Life

Oh — taste this:

The bread of life

is not a metaphor —

What really sustains us

is not metabolism,

and what we’re made of

really is the one thing,

the flavors of which 

are joy, exhilaration, love

What sustains us in our being

is kindness, and seeing others true,

and gladness to be here,

to be the light of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 10, 2016

Entrance

At this gate, we will not need

to show identification.

We will not need a resumé,

or a checklist of experiences

we have accrued.

We will not need to be well dressed,

rehearsed, or polished.

This is the gate of anywhere,

this is the gate of here and now,

and the one thing we need

is down at the very bottom of our being,

under all those papers,

all that detritus,

all those shed skins,

where it seems it will be really hard

to pull it out

Except here it is,

and we don’t need to answer to anyone.

Just rise up inside

and walk through.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 9, 2016

Straw/Gold

I’m thinking of the straw/gold inversion

as fat drops of rain begin to round the evening,

closing the day as it began,

framing the sunny interlude in soft gray,

green of spring still predominating

What glitters in a day

can be cashed in for joy,

but only in the absence of entitlement,

which turns kind gestures into ash

and cries, limping,

for what it has not received

While even the most humble stalk,

absorbing warmth, filling up with light,

will shine its bright bar across a memory,

its gift across a life.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 8, 2016

Retrospective

What forms us, what

makes us what we are,

what brings us to this place,

this state of being?

(Certainly it’s early 

to wax retrospective,

with this, the greatest work

of our lives, before us)

(Clearly we have seen,

the story of our past is

the product of our present lens,

it shifts with each tilt of the head,

it doesn’t show us anything)

And yet, there is a fullness

in this sunny afternoon

flooded with memories,

there is a fondness

for what we have been, 

however foolish

There is hope that all will yet bear fruit,

and all will be forgiven,

there is time

to let our lives unfold.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 7, 2016

Pep Talk

No point in sitting around, waiting around,

hoping to be loved.

Am I not love? Am I not able, therefore,

to love fully and freely,

and bring all that joy

abundantly home?

No point in checking daily, hourly,

for signs of approbation.

The affirmation of my worth

comes from the fount that springs up,

constantly, from my essence. In the allness

and the oneness of infinity,

there is no place but here,

and here and now

is where I am celebrated,

as are we all.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 6, 2016

Standing Up

It’s not like you have to change.

Your heart has already agreed

with what’s true. Your essence

already resonates

with the harmony

that you have always hungered for

You are drawn here

because you already know

that you will rise and do the things

that will define you, take the stand

that brings the change out in the open,

that lets the revolution tumble forth,

effortless as waves,

unstoppable as tide.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 5, 2016