Thanks for this

I hold the blessing

in the laugh behind my eyes,

in the warm spots on my cheeks,

and in the warble that burbles

in the place where I might speak

It isn’t mine — it is a gift

passed to me freely, just an hour ago,

not me alone — given to many,

and I imagine

they all took it home

As I assume also it will multiply

as mirrors magnify,

as smiles create a surfeit of good will,

which cascades outward

touching people who

don’t even know each other,

though they’d recognize the kinship

with anyone in whom they saw the light.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 30, 2019

This Changes Everything

Streams of living waters,

rivers of pure light —

we speak of it in metaphors,

for how else can we convey

the feeling, and the importance of it,

the way we’re borne up

in the swift current,

the way it fills us

and lifts us

and becomes that which we are

And if we thought love

was a distant spark

that might or might not ignite,

if we thought love depended on

finding someone, or being found,

if we thought love was anything less than

the fountain of life itself,

or anywhere less than right here,

this changes everything.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 29, 2019

Edges

Frost lines the edges of our days,

encasing them with torpor,

lacing us with eagerness for warmth,

of which there is enough, still, in the middles,

for us to work, for us to dream

And in the morning and the evening,

fire is our friend —

it takes the edge off,

fills us with ease again.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 28, 2019

Gravitas

Life, as it turns out,

is not always instructional —

less and less so, in fact, these days

There is a statement

in the curl and color of a fallen leaf,

the reddened stems 

of blackberry and bracken fern

But they don’t seek to teach,

just to be,

just to let the light of this one

moment of afternoon

glow through them,

just to rest in light gravity

against the cool ground,

or to stand still

in the pauses between the wind.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 26, 2019

Then and now

I tell myself, in those days

I didn’t understand much about love,

though I did love

(as now I see we all do)

haplessly, perhaps,

helplessly at times,

with an intensity that could have been a key

I didn’t understand love’s power,

didn’t know to use it

so the ones I loved would feel encouraged,

safe, encircled, ready to go forth

to meet their own exigencies with love

I ask myself, well,

how much more of love

do you know now?

And are you able

to shine the light in such a way

that it illuminates instead of blinding?

And if I am, and when I am,

then all those other times of love

will also be redeemed. 

That is the way of love,

and love will teach me how.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 25, 2019

Your (formerly) resident demons

You’ll hardly recognize your demons

when they’re sitting, clothed,

at their master’s feet

They may be sheepish about

their former torment,

they may want you to understand

they really only meant to help

They wanted you to get to this point

of peace that’s larger

than any field in which you’ve been ashamed,

and any field in which you’ve been afraid —

a peace in which they have no role at all

They never would have let you settle

for a small corner of being OK —

they wanted this huge place for you,

where you can smile, and rest, and breathe.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 23, 2019

Attended

Before the sun set,

the first silvered wisps of fog

began to form low in the valley,

tending slightly upward

as they drifted south

Five minutes later

the valley had begun to fill,

fog rising between trees

setting off the different distances,

the fall colors  looked more red

amid the rising clouds

Meanwhile, behind the hills,

the sun had set

and the sky was turning red,

marbled and magnificent

And I thought: here, just here,

is exactly where I want to be,

above this valley and on this journey,

upward as I’m led, attended by beauty.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 22, 2019