Sovereignty

 

I'm not afraid of end days,
because I'm learning
that succumbing to the story
would entail an abdication
that I will not do

I will not allow time
to roll like a wheel,
I will not assume that anything
just happens

I am learning sovereignty
over what moves in thought,
I am learning
what doesn't more in thought
doesn't move at all

I will stand strong
in my place with what's unfolding,
my steps on earth continually
approaching heaven.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 31, 2021

Pause

 

I will agree
to not go backward.
We can pause, we can rest  -
that's good - it lets all the ripples
catch up to us, it lets
the consequences of our revelation
settle into place

It is well to take the time to celebrate
the new green, the new calm,
the ready place for long waiting seeds
to swell and sprout, and start to branch
into new understanding

It is not going backward
to take all this in -
it's just allowing time for new hope
to bear its tender fruit.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 30, 2021

Softening

 

In this moment of afternoon

I walk in quiet wonder
through a subtle quality - the day
softened by tears,
softened by sweet conversation
that went on last night long after dark,
softened by the relief of finding a next step
out of a tight place

There are fewer words in my head,
and that is softer,
and the sun and breeze are softening each other,
and we can have direction
without being driven,
and we can have this day,
uninfluenced by time.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 29, 2021

Sun-like

 

I watched how the sun
sifted through the firs,
how it dappled the eager forbs,
stretching out long
after months as ground cover

I felt how the warmth was bestowed
in the precise places where the sun hit,
and I considered how precise
my thought must also be,
to pick out truth
and not slop over into lies,
and how sun-like this practice really is,
the bright places and the shadows
all basking in the overflow of grace.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 27, 2021

On the non-intelligence of evil

 

When presented with good,
evil, actually, can't even remember
what it was thinking

It can string impressions together
in the echo of itself against itself,
in the escalation of provocation

It can lance forward
with its narrative of
good as the other edge of itself
(self righteous and indignant)
as that which justifies its bellicosity

But good - real good, pure good,
the one that never justifies
and never is provoked,
that always wishes well
and always blesses -

Evil can't stand before it,
because, in the face of good,
it can't think of anything,
can't imagine what, besides good,
it could have wanted.
In the face of good,
evil drops itself entirely,
and we reach out, innocent,
to take the prize.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 26, 2021

Droplets

 

Could be teardrops,
could be raindrops,
could be the tiniest kiss of cream
as we come toward the end
of this puddled afternoon
with a cup of coffee
and some small pools of hope
scattered and deflected
like droplets on my glasses,
and we will be OK,
yes, ultimately,
we will be just fine.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 25, 2021

Resolution

 

We pick ourselves up,
we bumble forward.
There is little to be gained
by second-guessing

But much is gained
by reassessing
what we are here for,
what powers our days

Let's have no more irreverence
where reverence is due,
no more complaining,
no dogged powering through,
more cheerful patience,
more open gratitude,
and all in all,
more closeness to our source.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 24, 2021