“Give me, oh Lord, an understanding heart”

Take me beyond having answers

to the peace that stills the questions,

to the knowing that is the comfort

before which no doubts, no lack, can stand

I don’t expect or desire

to be seen as someone who understands —

I desire instead to see

understanding like dawn

bathing us all.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 31, 2017

On the sidewalk benches at the local pub

At my first impression she was

fragile as paper, and I wondered

how she could settle in

to any kind of a life

like that, with so little

to be solid in

But then my husband

asked her a question

and we broke through the bubble

to find someone eager to connect

someone we might see again

and wave, and maybe even talk with

And maybe most people

are hard to know deeply

and maybe most of us have

our quirks that make us

hard to live with. But maybe

what matters is less

what we might be, and more

what we might be together.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 30, 2017

Unmasking

The light keeps brightening

as we remove the layers —

what once was dim and fickle

becomes a stronger flicker,

becomes a steady glow,

becomes a blaze

We will drink this light

like flowing water,

we will be borne

in its currents,

we will rise like bubbles,

all that we thought defined us

fully forgotten

in our daily learning,

in our daily flight.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 29, 2017

Mighty

Today I feel small but mighty —

small as a chink of light

under a door,

small as the time it takes

to catch an eye,

small as a seed, small as an inkling,

mighty as kindness, mighty as truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 28, 2017

My Life

I want to be satisfied

but not self-satisfied. 

I don’t want to take my life for granted.

I want my life to be a quest,

a quest for more and deeper, truer,

of what is.

I have read, and I believe

there is no room for superstition

in understanding. I will endeavor

to place no weight on life’s events,

leaning instead

on the Spirit that is

the Life of everything.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 26, 2017

Drug of Choice

Every one of them, it was said,

has their drug. Once they taste it,

they’ll go to great extremes

to get their next fix.

They’ll feel the promise of that

rush of aliveness, they’ll crave

the affirmation that seems

so certain to be felt

as they receive, once more,

the dearly sought elixir

Every one of them, it was said,

can be roped in just like that,

can be controlled, can be enslaved . . . 

They didn’t reckon on

the dawning recognition

of the light that saturates everything,

that satisfies everyone’s desire.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 26, 2017

Centered

Light falls across your face

as trees outside sift sun

through their low branches

Late afternoon finds us here

refreshed, at peace, settled

into what has been revealed today

of steady power, solid strength,

sovereignty

In the end, we can only be

true, we can only emanate

what we really are.

We learn it here, in the centered

witnessing of each other.

We learn it here

in what we see

and what we give.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 24, 2017

What I Need

There’s no turning back —

all the contexts, after all,

are so quickly forgotten —

those things we thought would be

so worthy to attain

no longer shining with the same allure

It’s not that I mind

the ease in my days,

the gentle cooling

in the summer wind,

the time to breathe in consonance

with bees and flowers

Just that what I’m called to 

is something more

than what I had assumed would be enough –

more than ease and comfort,

more than entertainment,

more than heady thoughts

on how I think and feel —

I need it more than image, 

more than branding, more than tribe —

something that will show me I am real.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 23, 2017

Today’s Marvels

The first ripe plum

from our tree —

juicy, sweet, tangy, sour,

the birds that flit from fir to cedar

as they darken (birds and trees)

while the sky is still full of light,

summer laughter of children

in the next block,

the scent of buddleia in the evening air

These, and the slow progress

through the tasks,

the tasks of learning,

the tasks of growth.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 21, 2017

Summer

Summer is kind,

pockets of peace offered

in wind, in the play of light in leaves,

in shade. There is a lightness

that lifts thought like a kite,

dances it against the high currents,

brings new sight

Summer is replete

with memories of freedom

playing like breeze across the mind,

still impelling the thoughtful to dream

of liberty for all mankind.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 20, 2017

Piano Hands

My hands are slowly learning the terrain,

the steps, the reaches, changing intervals,

the black keys and the white,

which ones are called for in this signature,

coordination of the left and right

I didn’t know they had so much to learn,

I thought that they should know these things,

despaired to find they didn’t. I took a long time

crashing them through songs

thinking they’d never get it right

But they are learning

and I’m learning, too —

patience for things that take time,

willingness to do the work.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 19, 2017

What the morning told me

You can have

all the freedom, all the blessing,

all the grace you want —

just don’t try to hoard it

You can be

a changer of the world,

whose outlook

transforms the frames you see —

brings them to alignment

with their essential goodness —

just don’t seek to take the credit

You can know the bliss of oneness,

commune with Allness, dance infinity —

you won’t miss

the things that can’t come with you,

wake up — shake off the dream —

you’ll see.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 18, 2017

Yoga

Silently, because they have been asked,

the members of my body straighten —

they stretch out from where they’ve been crunched,

find new alignment with each other.

They take up the work of support,

they learn to do their part

So I stand taller,

I find bend and balance,

I find length and strength,

and the air 

flows through me

fuller, deeper

I feel this shape

is more me

than I have been before,

which makes me wonder

what decisions

put us in our former shape

and what awakening

awaits us yet.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 17, 2017

As it Turned Out

We had rehearsed our story

so many times. We had imagined

great cachet in it, in the moment

we could look back, victorious,

and the eager ears that would

take in our tale

Funny to notice

how little difference

it turned out to make,

how all the dramas we narrated

to ourselves, and to imagined others,

seem irrelevant,

caught up, as we are,

in the constant music,

in the enchanting brightness,

ever unfolding,

of here.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 16, 2017

New Words

A few steps behind us

as we were leaving

we heard the crash and rumble,

structures falling down

Nothing of it touched us, though,

nor did it touch anyone —

I guess we were all leaving

at the same time

I guess we are arriving

at where we need to be,

and we’ll recognize each other here,

see as we have never seen

We’ll need new words for this,

for how we feel

in this place without dust,

as we find ourselves real.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 15, 2017

Markers

Nah, I’m not approaching

some kind of threshold —

no door advances towards me,

no conveyer bears me, willy nilly,

towards a place of change

My progress rather

is like the dawn

and the stately procession

of summer clouds

No reckoning, no tally,

just the roll of days

and the smile of light footfall,

barefoot communion,

electrifying praise.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 13, 2017

Right Here

Join me in the place

where we never have to prove anything,

never have to measure ourselves

against each other,

so filled up, as we’ll be

in the joy of flying,

streaming in infinity,

exultant in the Allness,

too awestruck to compare.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 12, 2017