Time, and times, and half a time

The heaping apple cart
tips over, the rolling hopes and expectations
jostle and fall,
bounce along roads,
lost to us now

We  can’t even begin
to gather them back,
and the cart is broken anyway,
one wheel following the apples down
careening and ringing like a coin

And it makes no sense to us
to go back, to start over —
What would it be to us, at this point?
So in the aftermath
we wait to be lifted,
our lives to be borne
along a different arc.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 10, 2018

Windows of Heaven

“Prove me now herewith” —

For they are indeed open,

present in everything that fills with light,

waiting in the spaces

between our expectations

Windows of heaven

ready to pour forth such brightness,

such soul-gracing truth

that all our limitations dissolve.

We step across the threshold

caught up in glory.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 9, 2018

Rooftop Prayers

Dust and pollen have sifted

through the quiet air,

the soft breezes,

warm and wistful

have lifted 

the scent of lilacs

and brought it here

I will reach through this 

drifting afternoon, 

to find the prayer

that knows the heart

of all these living things,

and brings me there,

where I, too, can know

my core and highest cause,

where I, too, can be the message

long awaited, gladly shared.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 8, 2018

Between

Alone, I find myself drifting

in some odd space between hunger and tears.

The day is benign, and everything is breathing —

Clearly, it all knows that breath is gratitude,

and that it’s enough to fully engage with it,

taking in and releasing 

in the dance of mutual blessing

It almost seems I could join with it.

It almost seems like something I could never leave,

something I have never left.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 7, 2018

New Vision

It’s not an ace in the hole,

it's not a way to win in this world,

it can’t be used to gain advantage

When you emerge into the radiance

of the great and tender Allness, 

you forget those things anyway,

being so caught up

in the unfolding singularity

of each joy-touched moment,

each amazing new awareness

You won’t be able to look back and measure,

but you won’t care, either,

leaving the false for the true.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 6, 2018

When we meet again

We know you will go on,

we know you will keep learning,

and we can consider

that you will share 

your inspirations and your joys with us,

just as you did before

We will go on,

we will keep learning,

so we’ll have things to share

next time we come together,

when we meet again.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 4, 2018

Floods

Every place we go back to, it seems,

presents another flood,

and surely it will cleanse us

and maybe it will drown us —

we can’t know until we go there

and go through — 

there is no other way out

So we will hold each other’s hands,

we’ll go together,

we’ll be grateful for each sandbag

that kind people have thrown out

to shore us up, to lend support,

whether or not they feel they understand

We will go through —

who knows what

will be on the other side —

where we are now is all that we can know.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 3, 2018