Seed

Left once again

in the detritus of dysphoria,

ripped, deflated,

rendered helpless by its flat words

(give up, you can’t do it

and you don’t want to anyway

(take that palliative, don’t complain)

you don’t have whatever it may take

and don’t deserve to either)

You are not alone,

and though you feel

no one could approach you,

look again

As you let the stillness sweep you

as the ebbing wave subsides,

you will sense, inside, a tiny seed,

its threadlike roots extending,

pulling you together

till the sprout can lift its head

It will tell you

nothing overcomes you —

you will blossom, and your voice will soar,

you’re made of life —

that old voice isn’t —

it falls to dust, but you,

you still shine clear.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 7, 2020

Possessing the Land

I will go up and possess this land,

I will not worry,

I will not be made to feel

like we are grasshoppers,

easy to crush by forces fierce and daunting

What I may be

in my own esteem

has no bearing at all

on prospects of success

The key is that I reckon

the source and will 

that moves me

even as it moves everything

The key is that I go forth,

trusting and eager,

taking the steps with confidence

that, as long as I move forward,

I will be guided.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 29, 2019

A Lightening

I sense now, in many,

a learning to yearn

for a freedom of being

that lives beyond fear,

leaning into their hope

and their imagination

for the wide open space

where their essence

is unassailable,

thus lightening the field,

allowing room, here, for more people,

if not in the certainty of believing,

still in the place of admitting:

this is something that I want,

this is something that I am.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 8, 2019

Permission to Cry

A place that’s warm can give me

permission to cry — kindness so often

sets me off, I don’t know why —

I don’t know if it rolls me onto

the underside of long and steady courage,

if it makes my vigil seem bleak, if it allows

a setting down of strength,

and if this flood is something

I just needed, or if it is

a detour from the program

and does no earthly good

I don’t know why, but I feel

grateful and unhinged

both at the same time.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 4, 2018

When we know

In this time of shadows,

how shall we measure progress?

the competing accounts

of cause and effect

point to different courses,

different outcomes. And the lack

of referents obscures the sense

of if we’re even moving

and whether winds are stronger

or the currents

So we do what we do

in this moment, what seems right,

and we wait, without being able

to say what we’re waiting for,

only knowing

that when we know, we’ll know.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 27, 2018

News Flash

We are not passengers —

we are the horse

We are the ones running

and each of us can feel

the surprise touch,

each of us can be awakened

from our sense of waiting

for someone else to do the miracle

so we can cheer

We already are the miracle,

we already are the shining

of Love’s children —

look at us

I mean look at yourself

on the inside

You’ll see it, that chain of light

all laced through you,

the one you fight for every day,

the one you live for

We are the miracle

and nothing stops us

from running through to claim it.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 30, 2017

Fighting Back

The smoke retreats slightly

and I lift my head, best as I can,

out of the morass

I summon the image

of prison walls. If, after all,

I can imagine standing my ground,

holding out for truth

despite all fierce displays —

if I can affirm that nothing

can remove me from 

the atmosphere of Spirit,

then why not here?

What knots of thought convince me

that I should go under,

that I should suffer

until the smoke disperses?

What virtue would it give me

to die from missing

the kiss of fresh air through my being?

No. I’ll fight back.

I’ll stand strong 

in the atmosphere of goodness,

I’ll be a place of purity and peace.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 4, 2017

Standing With You

You don’t need me to be with your fear,

you need me to go with you to where

you have never been afraid,

where you are so sure

of your place among

the forces that move everything,

where you own the free walking

down the winds along the high hills,

and the swift soaring 

between craggy canyon walls

and the profound stillness

of the center point

from which you know how you will move

I hear the raw keening

in your cry of fear,

but through the static

I also hear your clear tone.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 8, 2016

The Tasks at Hand

If the tasks at hand

seem impossible,

just remember

the voice that tells you so

is not you. It is only

the keeper of boxes, the one

that tries to circumscribe your light,

the one that battles your dissent

with stridency of tone

so you will not keep fighting

The tasks at hand are a gift,

presented to celebrate your capabilities.

You are well able to do them,

and they will show the depth and brilliance

of your being.

The tasks at hand are yours —

Rise up!

©Wendy Mulhern

May 24, 2016

This Way

I walked back today

along the path, in my mind,

where I had come, saw the crags,

the sharp ascents, the bracing view,

a good reminder

(as the way trends downward

into the understory, shaded and close)

that progress has been steady,

that the path rises, after this,

to further heights,

and there will be more views,

more stretches harder 

than I have ever climbed,

more to change me beyond recognition,

and nothing for it

but to keep going.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 25, 2016

Growing Pains

Learning to be real

is hard work sometimes,

as I remind myself

from my cozy living room

where I didn’t lift a finger

to make the lights come on,

to make it warm

You wouldn’t know

I’m struggling for my life,

struggling to connect

my causes and effects,

to find a way to know

that what I do has value,

to find a way to deal fairly

with all the beings 

with whom I interact,

with everyone on whom my life depends.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 12, 2016

Take Heart

Don’t be afraid —

There is no journey you can take,

no long night you can go through

where you will be abandoned

in the middle

In your tiredest moment,

at the coldest hour,

in the bleakest outlook,

the most untoward turn,

hear your heart:

it doesn’t beat alone.

It pulses in response

to the eternal pulse of being,

indicating, thus, its steady presence

You will come through,

but you may feel at peace

before you’re even done,

for in each step

you are attended by the One.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 27, 2016

Walking Through

I will stand my ground,

and if the sand shifts beneath me

I will settle my feet in again,

I will lean into the wind

and I will not be desolate

I will close my eyes 

and blink into the knowing

of what holds me strong and steady,

I will wrap myself

in the practical rise

to the moment's exigencies,

the mantle of resolute calm

for an unknown course

and many miles to travel

I will walk on through,

for there is no other way.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 30, 2015

Well Drillers

I recognize the goodness

of your sturdy strength

and your willingness

to get completely dirty

and to muscle the heavy equipment

into the ground,

your endurance

and your experience

and the way you signal to each other

above the motor’s din and through your earplugs

and you both know

what you need to do

The joy in this shows through

like the brightness of your eyes

in mud-spattered faces,

and how you hold yourselves

after the heat of the day

and the hours of work,

fortified instead of slumped by labor.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 11, 2015

Escape

I separated myself

from the acceleration,

escaped the vortex

with just a wobble at the lip of it,

then floated free and still —

only in the reflection on it

amazed by where I might have ended up

if I had wandered

just a little closer

I did not join that battle.

But now I am collecting

a more pervasive calm,

a positive peace,

a zone that extends its power

even to where everything

dropped down before,

even where all was lost

because everyone is needed

and no one, ultimately

can be swept away.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 15, 2015

Seeing the Salvation

Stand still, for you won’t need

to fight in this battle. Not this one.

For your perception

will be lifted up. And none of the triggers

will even register

You will see that your work is 

to stand clear in the Allness —

the comprehensive Love that buffers 

each collision course with kindness, 

makes each intersection blessed, 

each impact blessing

You won’t need to fight in this battle.

Stand still, and let your view expand

until you see the circle’s sweet return,

until you hold the whole.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 18, 2015

Crucible

Oh, these things we are so proud of

and the things of which we’re so ashamed.

these things that cling to who we think we are,

these things we carefully arrange,

These things we call ourselves

and what we call each other

all must melt

in the rising heat of change

And what we are

beneath our self stories,

What we are

beneath all our facades

will seem a small coal

when we first see it

but we will know we must acknowledge it

as ours

As ashes fall away, we’ll see the glow,

and as we hold to it, we’ll see it grow:

It will survive the fire,

it will endure —

It may be faint as yet

but it is pure.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 18, 2015

Power

Listen,

You have the power:

You can always do

what you want

You are the power —

You can bring your light

into the world

You feel the power,

vibrant and decisive voice within

that lets you know

what you are here to do,

how to begin

and how to follow through

and how to win

the realization of your grandest vision.

Though you have heard real life consists

of mostly doing things your heart resists,

it is not true,

For here and now

the life that ever brings you forth

aligns you with your joy

and seals your worth.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 30, 2014

about this poem:

I was walking home from the post office this morning around seven, in the predawn light where early blue began to separate from layered gray, thinking about chem trails and surveillance and the poisoning of the earth, and I realized that these things can only be done if people do them.  And that people probably realize they don’t want to do these things, so the one thing that can heal the earth is our realizing we don’t need to do things we don’t want to do. A revolutionary thought, with far-reaching implications . . .