Light Song

Light sings through the woods like wind,

gold and shadows are its song,

it passes through them as through lace,

praising their interweavings

Late in the day, when ground

has passed to shadow,

the tops of trees still glow, still sing —

those heads first tousled by the morning

are last to see the sun’s rays leave.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 31, 2018

photo by Pam Cassel

Upward

We find our way to climb

like birds, like vines,

counter thrust to the weight of us,

oblivious of time

This aspiration

breathes through us constantly

whether we know it or not,

whether or not we’re trying —

we will go higher

in natural response

to what looks up within 

and always rises.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 30, 2018

Could Be

Could be a lot of that stuff

I’ll throw under the bed

and not think about for awhile

Maybe there’s a way of thinking about things

that is much clearer than all my habits.

The need, it seems, is to keep those habits

from jumping all over the new thoughts

Could be a practice of silence

and meek observation

with dew all around my eyes

reminding me with each blink

what it is to be new

will help.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 29, 2018

Viewpoint

I don’t even feel like looking

at the end of the year —

I have no urging towards retrospectives.

I don’t want to look at next year, either —

I have no interest in resolutions

There will be things in the year,

events and growth and changes,

but I have no sense I can control them.

They will come through like storms

or sprout like seeds,

I will await them

but they will take me by surprise —

I have no view of them but this one,

on the ground, peering through vines and branches,

taking the next step.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 28, 2018

Awaiting

There is a truth I can’t tell you,

so I’ll wait

to hear you tell it to me,

knowing you will do so,

as it is the best news

of a moment, a lifetime,

and you will find it wonderful

and unsuppressible

It will pour out of you

like birdsong

and I will rejoice.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 27, 2018

Simply

It is a simple thing

being here, in the land of reflection

There may be refractions,

bright angles, shafts of light

coming in from unexpected places —

they magnify the radiance,

they show its different facets

Sometimes I can trace them,

sometimes not. Yet simply

I am filled up with the glow

and simply

I am satisfied.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 26, 2018

Step by Step

Well, we had to do the best we knew,

we had to bring the gifts we had —

what we understood, 

what we experienced

and thus believed

It took the whole of us —

there wasn’t enough light

in any sliver of our selves

for us to see by, for us to feel

the magnitude of life

We had to wrap our arms around it all,

even what was flawed,

even what had been rejected

by various external standards

When we embraced us all,

there was enough light

for us to comprehend

what we are made of. From there

we had enough abundance

to find our way home.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 24, 2018