Word Vessels

At some moment of your permission

I step inside your words,

inhabit the image 

that you constructed,

a vessel in which I feel

the rush of life

that you put into it

In that moment 

it becomes mine, too —

a gift you’ve given me:

Heart body.

The trunks of trees that spoke

in your father’s voice

There is so much offered here —

so much more than conversation —

a boost of brightness

that arcs beyond the words,

warming and strengthening our bond.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 30, 2020

What we wanted

All we ever wanted

was to be reunited

with our source,

to be in that communion

like water is

as it travels on its journeys

to be reunited with itself,

as it carries light in liquid ripples

through rills and streams

All we wanted

was that certainty

of what we are —

that we are good,

that we are one

with that which lights us up within

We may pursue our winding path

through darkness, 

but it’s the gleams of light that lift us

and our light reflecting essence

that guides us

(as we will see when we look)

to everything we wanted.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 24, 2019

One Dance

And who were you, and who was I

but lights connecting,

pulling out the filament of hope,

on and on, a constant stream

even as the loops and partnerings

within the dance

wove and rewove,

some splendid knot forming

of which we were not aware

or hardly —

the streaming light remaining

the one strong constant

till the smile that dawned in you

lit up the circle,

and as we wove that, too,

it brought us all in.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 26, 2019

If We Knew

And as for us, poor fumble people,

all we need is cuddles,

cuddle of the deepest sort,

that feeds the soul,

that soothes the heart

and makes us know

how dearly we are held

We all come crying, masked, of course,

in our bravado, the efforts we all mount

to prove that we amount to something,

that our presence counts

We ask for others

to give us what we need

but they, too, flounder,

flailing in the chasm of their lack

Ah, if we only knew,

in truth, for certain,

what’s already given,

we wouldn’t need to struggle and to sink —

we’d rest, serenely, in our present heaven.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 10, 2019

Sparkle

Within the sparkle of your being,

between the separate sparkles,

I thought for a moment

I could enter. Could feel the crackle

of electric movement, effervescence

of the spaces in between —

Could step beyond boundaries

to where we occupy

the same space. A way to light up,

a way to receive.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 30, 2019

Sound Bath

We were all very happy to share

the stories of our success,

the odds we faced

and how we overcame,

and what instruction could be gained

from our example

But were we willing also

to give the gift of being

one who receives another’s words

and goes up higher? 

How we all long for that kind of exchange!

—Where our words are taken in, and resonate

to match and amplify our starting tone,

so we together bathe in sound,

soaking in the rich harmonics

that make us feel ignited and at home.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 5, 2018

After, after all

There is, in our connection, wonder.

Afterwards, when hollow longing

dogs our door,

let us remember:

All the light we forged

still glows within,

and the spark that made it

never lacks the fuel

to start a warming blaze

and to sustain the joy and purpose

that charmed us so, before —

There’s no cold aftermath

to anything that’s meaningful.

We live, after all, in the adventure —

we live the bright unfolding dance of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 21, 2018

Pool

I will not be tired or sad or scared,

I will notice

what your face is doing.

I won’t try to deconstruct your mood

but I will be here

watching for your light

If I can be a pool

to give reflection

and maybe some refreshment,

I will be there —

if you venture near

then maybe you will find me

And if not,

wind may still ruffle

the light across my waters,

trees may still rustle

above the quiet shore,

your life still follow

the course that has been charted

and I’ll still hold you

gently in my heart.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 19, 2018

The Lark

(to Oohna, inspired by a collaboration)

Alleluia, intoned the lark,

for song can overcome the dark —

take it under your wings like wind

to soar through the bright canopy

and bring the light of hope across the land

in echo of the joy of morning trees.

Listen within to where your heart says, “hark”

and say amen — so you become the lark.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 17, 2018

Still

I am with you

because we have found a way

to gather, as a thing distilled,

in the condensing places

where whatever mattered

from our words, and from our efforts,

what we noticed, what we cared about,

is concentrated in the quiet that we sit with

and shines the crystal brightness

of what’s true

I am with you

through and after all our struggles

because, willing or not,

we have been pressed to this purity.

Having come this far,

nothing else makes sense.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 9, 2018

Release

They roar and rage

outside the door,

they hurl their cries

against the walls of their frustration.

They wouldn’t have to scream

if they could just get in,

if they could have the streaming

of connection

There is no pressure

when hand clasps hand

and understanding finds its level

in the flow between them.

There is a great release

as they let go of static standpoints

and embrace the view

that sees them all as one.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 5, 2018

My Choice

No actually

I’d rather take the time

to be holy. This isn’t something

I do for myself. This is something

I allow, the way the land allows the sun

to warm it, the way the air allows the rain

to wash it clean

A long deep breath,

a pause to close my eyes

and let the fullness sink in.

Yes, this is what I’d rather do,

this is what I choose.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 18, 2017

Cup

Let me lift this cup of day

to my lips, let me taste

the light, the peppered challenges,

the satori of new illuminations

Let me lift the cup of this day

to my lips, let all the moments

kiss me with their inspiration,

let my thirst be ever quenched,

and my hunger — let it be awakened

Let me hold this cup of day,

this day, up to the light for blessing,

let me drink deeply, water to wine,

and in serving, let me be blessed.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 14, 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

Meeting Place

Not me, not you,

not the accumulation

of our feats and foibles,

not our prowess, not our evolving,

not the challenges we’ve met

or failed to conquer

But rather, the willing leaving

of all those stories, all those chains,

responding to what calls

the radical insides, the rawest

and purest of desires,

that which, when we ride with it,

thrums us alive,

each moment more

than we could imagine

This is where, meeting,

we will be amazed with each other

and at the same time, with ourselves —

this is where we’ll tell ourselves,

over and over,

yes and yes, yes and yes and yes.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 6, 2017

Come Out

Come out into the green —

there is life here, in the leaves

and under them,

there is fresh air,

there are myriad surprises

Come where you are free

of all the tyrant screens

that seek to program us,

to sell and drive us

There’s something unsurpassed

in knowing without media,

communing — just you — 

with other life forms

If it is left unphotoed, unrecorded,

it will keep on touching you —

the haunting song of your connection

reaching deep — deeper than anything

anyone ever told you.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 31, 2017

Bounty

I will not go hungering and begging

for what has always been mine,

for what I have

by virtue of my essence

I will not underestimate

the power of Life to meet my need

with what another needs to give.

I will be glad my need to give

is similarly met

This is my point of waking,

to be assiduous

but with no doubt behind it,

move forward generous

and free of fear,

cultivate humbleness

and a ready ear,

reap the bounty 

that’s always here.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 7, 2017

The Sharing Space

Let me remember once again

how to come into the sharing space,

to level the balance,

to leave outside

all impulse to steer

or to get you to change

I come into the sharing space

not with speech but with listening,

I enter the sacred

as seeker, as witness,

prepared to be overwhelmed,

lifted, transported,

prepared to be shined through,

prepared to be changed.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 2, 2017

Foot Washing

Any moment can be a portal

where the compelling touch

of a neighboring world

connects your current

and pulls you through

Any touch can be the contact,

and as you flow through,

the miracle is

you don’t ebb from here —

instead, some before unknown infinity

rushes in and multiplies you,

rendering you equal to the blessing

When I wash your feet

or you wash mine,

the humbleness and love in which we meet

gathers us both

into a bright world

which we immediately know

has always been our home

although we’ve never walked in it before.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 27, 2016