Teach me to wish for good things,
for there is plenty of power
in the framing of what is good,
in noticing
how eloquently each good thing
speaks for itself,
not needing to be defined
by absence, or by otherness,
not needing to be specified
as change from what has been
or what has been imagined
Each note of blackbird song,
each creaky goose call,
each evening frog chorus
shows the nature of good things -
finding their perfect tone
in the breath-held air.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 31, 2021
Who am I
if I am not my words,
nor yet my attitude,
if I am not my context
or the things I've thought and done,
what's happened to me ...?
Who are you
if you are not
behaviors I observe,
or ways you interact
or things you do?
I take the thought of you,
of me, of all of us -
I try to move it deeper -
to that which sparks us awake,
alive,
what ties us with a lifeline
to the infinite.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 30, 2021
If I wanted to save someone -
anyone -
though I didn't know them,
though I wished them well,
just in a general sense -
if I wanted to be of help somehow
Perhaps there's a practice -
enlarging my tent -
in which I recognize
the core of power
present in everyone,
and how fervently
that core loves truth,
and how it is so nourished
by its own integrity
that no other proposition
affords temptation
How it doesn't take a movement,
but just for that core
to rise up
in any heart, in any life,
and we will see corruption fall
like lightening from heaven,
collapse to nothingness,
and so many who were bound
will step free.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 29, 2021
I guess these days
I've been talking less,
which should be no surprise
given
so few people around
but I mean
I"ve been talking less to myself,
now that I've given up instruction,
now that I've given up self help
And I guess that's a footstep
towards listening more -
to the rhythm of everything,
to the quiet moments,
to the voice of the half gone
blackberry leaf, that says
yes, we are here for the deer,
we will provide for them,
and the click of the secret door,
present everywhere,
opening to unfathomable richness.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 28, 2021
I know the essence of you
by what shines,
like moonlight in a well -
it doesn't matter how deep -
the response is still the same
I know the essence of you
even by the shadows,
for to have shadows
there must be light projecting out
If I bring my truest sense
of who I am,
if I am honest,
if I will take the time,
if I am still enough,
I may gain this reward -
the deep honor of getting to know
the essence of you.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 27, 2021
It's still winter,
blackbirds singing by the pond
notwithstanding
It's still winter,
momentary snow amidst the rain
attesting
And it's still enough
to find a way to feed and warm ourselves
and take the time to watch the snow
command the scene
for the brief time
of its ascendancy
We will make progress
and measure it
not against our endless list of tasks
but in the pace
of winter's strict permissions.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 26, 2021
How could I have thought
my gifts were mine to keep?
- for they were gifts, which means
they must be given ...
And how could I have thought
the gift would come from me
in a straight channel, like a raindrop
down a window?
When clearly every gift
is what is given us
so we can bring it
to the neverending flow
like water in a river
that comes to it from everywhere -
all the watershed calling it forth,
birthing it with every contribution
to celebrate its neverending source.
©Wendy Mulhern
January 24, 2021
