A Gift

 

It may be a great gift
not to have the choice
whether to notice
the specificity of days -
the arc the moon takes through the night,
the temperature, whether the fog will lift,
or if it settles to a soft drizzle,
slowly saturating gloves and cuffs

In many striking moments
we look up from our work
and call out to each other - look -
the way the light is sitting on the field now,
the way the moon peaks through -
It is a gift,
though we may wish it otherwise -
it makes us richer,
despite how we may feel.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 30, 2020

Mercy

 

This isn't a quid pro quo,
nor yet a reward earned -
not a thing I have to do
to get what I want

Doing this is what I want,
kindness being an elixir
of greatest strength, a sensitizer,
opening up huge realms of splendid view,
releasing bounding joy.
This isn't something I do to be good -
This is goodness singing me.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 29, 2020

Un(en)titled

 

I took myself out
of my narrow shaft of light,
the one I thought shone
only on me, the one that showed me up
as either worthy or unworthy,
but different, categorically, from others

How to explain this?
- it's not to say
I don't think I'm unique,
just no more so than anybody else,
it's not to say the light
doesn't shine on me,
just that it doesn't shine on me alone

How could I have thought so?
All those years, that wondering
why I felt so lonely,
why friendships
could seem so hard to find
(looking for another
singular
shaft of light)

When all this time
all that I needed
was to look and see the sunshine
resting on every head,
on every life.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 27, 2020

Raising the Beam

 

It took us longer than we thought it would -
designing methods, designing rigging,
and time for extra careful execution of the steps,
several hours to get ready,
then fifteen minutes to perform the deed,
and maybe half an hour, after that,
to shore it up

When we were finished
we felt victorious,
mind having triumphed over dead weight,
heart having triumphed over cold.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 26, 2020

Cold Night

 

I thought I saw a little cat
sleeping in the end grain of the wood,
glinting orange as coals,
a little gray around the edges,
but my camera couldn't catch it,
focusing instead
on the licking lights

And then the image faded from the wood face
and the warmth that filled the room
during the roaring of the fire
kept getting sucked out
to the coldness of the night.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 25, 2020

Our

 

In many moments
that are like light between the trees,
that are like colors
across the evening sky,
I see my life is so much more
than what I thought

It can't be limited by space or time -
it spills out of the sides
of any constructs, it stretches out
in comprehension
of something bigger than the realm of stars -
as comprehensive, finally, as "our",
as big as hope, enduring as desire.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 24, 2020

Day Advances

 

See how the colors brighten
as fog lifts, as frost melts,
the first reveal the most brilliant
with momentary wetness adding contrast -
one form of beauty
resolving to another,
the mystic mist to radiant clarity,
just like the daily presentation
of all the gifts we're given,
just like the wondrous path
from earth to heaven.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 23, 2020