Need

 

I think I'll just stay here forever

if I can remember to -
here in the release from all dark thoughts,
here in the regimen of
everything defined by its essence
and not by projected lack

Need - not as what falls short
but rather,  what waits to bless:
needs to be witnessed,.
needs to bring us along
in the bright gift it's been designed
to give us,
needs to shine forth like a sun,
needs to bring life

I'll just stay here -
I have to remember to,
to see another's need and supply it,
dancing in showers
of resultant good.


©Wendy Mulhern
March 31, 2022

A thought

 

Maybe I'll change my ways.
Maybe it's not enough
to do the same thing day after day,
because of some agreement that I made
with no one, really,
a thing that may have had some worth,
but now its value is declining

Maybe it's time to forge a new way,
to force me to consider
what I'd need, and how to work it,
set my feet to ground, here,
just as with all the things
I'm learning how to do -
to have my outcomes be
the gift that's now required,
and what is not so
can fall away.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 30, 2022

With Approbation

 

I won't quibble over whether
the way you've parsed things out
matches mine

What matters to me is that somehow
you've made space for joy to bubble up
within your structures,
and you've made a place
to honor enduring value,
to make people feel at home
and also seen, and also loved,
and so encouraged
to stretch into their greatest being

When you do that I can see
that paths you make for others
are ones that you can also use,
and so you stride forth free
bringing glory into all your days.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 29, 2022

River

 

Words may slow down
but the flow of meaning
glides on immensely,
sparkles appearing like bright insights,
its volume, its movement, entrancing,
and challenging to comprehend

Where it all comes from
and where it goes
may require a rethink
of what things are made of,
may introduce a deepening
from mystery to wonder.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 28, 2022

Purify

 

I can purify myself

without making myself wrong
at any time  - not in my past,
not in my dreams

It's just like cleaning house - the shelves
are not wrong for the dust upon them -
quick swipe of cloth affirming their substance
and they are clear

I can purify myself
without making others wrong
or extra right - it's like cleaning my glasses
so I can better see
the nuance of people's hearts,
the colors of their souls.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 27, 2022

Into the gold

 

Every pen must dip into the gold,
whatever truth it wishes to elucidate  -
somewhere it must gather light
through which the elements are seen,
the power to propel the story

Every life is understood by light  -
they can't be seen in any other way.
Then let me judge them true
and let me tell them as they are,
and dip into the gold to share their story.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 25, 2022

into the same box at end of day

 

Wood grain on cedar boards
curving parallel,
path of cirrus clouds across the sky,
the shift in and out of dream
after a day's work outside,
the transition from maroon to pink
in peach and plum blossoms  -
not the same but similar
in the poignancy of their pale colors.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 24, 2022