In the afternoon

It may look like I’m weeding

but I’m harvesting — these dandelions

are destined for great things,

performing their wizardry

on crusty ground,

pushing through,

making room for more life

The sun was here briefly,

later the cold wind came through,

but didn’t deter us from harvesting

sweetness and strength

from the field of our connection

and the truth that is with us

wherever we go.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 23, 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

One Touch

Cradle me, let your arms

be a touchpoint, take me back

to where I don’t remember

but feel like I could —

This holding that shows me

that I am beloved,

my perfect belonging

wholly assured 

(If there is one body

then there is one touch

that all of us yearn for 

and each one can give)

No need to settle

for that which is partial,

provisional, grudging,

for sometime acceptance

Let this touch assure you, too,

that you have always 

been welcome here.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 14, 2018

Happy Home

Happy to have home, and be home

happy for warmth

and the restitching of friendships,

happy for time together

and the space to be open-hearted,

happy for peace within

Happy for sunshine with crisp, cold edges,

happy for walking beneath blue sky,

happy for trees and their timeless embrace,

happy for miracles.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 22, 2018

Hello

I will cherish this hello because

we don’t know when

we might be saying good bye

We don’t know how, we don’t know why —

we might be rent asunder by events,

or maybe we will drift

along the currents of our attention

and not notice

till we haven’t seen each other

in a long time

You may visit me in a dream,

I may wake up feeling unmoored

from my accustomed havens.

We may not know how

to talk to each other anymore

But all this speculation

may be keeping me

from this connection,

this perception, this igniting,

this hello.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 30, 2018

Helmsman

I see you there

steering your ship

behind eyes that you feel

not quite tall enough

to see out of,

reaching for the controls,

confused about which one does what

and how much force to apply —

I see your bravado, and

maybe a few of your other veils

Don’t worry — we all feel that way

at least some of the time.

I know we all want

the same thing —

Here — have a little gentle laughter,

the kind that tells you 

you’re eternally accepted, the kind

that lets you know

you belong here forever

in the home-free tumble-fest of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 25, 2018

First of October — Day’s Report

The rain was gone as quickly as it came,

but not for long. You could hear it first

on the far hills, as it made its way

down to the valley, and swept up

through grass and trees.

There was sun across the field

and a rainbow behind the dark firs,

and there were sparkles in the needles.

Again and again it came around.

Sometimes we were racing against it,

sometimes we were waiting it out.

Sometimes we were content with our condition,

sometimes less so.

We tracked a lot of mud onto the porch.

We made mistakes, corrected them,

discovered problems, fixed them,

in contrast and in counterpoint

to all the day’s moods

Brightened, towards the end,

by gifts of color, friendship, sustenance,

we came in from our labor satisfied.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 1, 2016

We Will Laugh

And most importantly,

we will laugh. We will laugh

in the delight of the life window

another’s story provides, we will

laugh in the sweet touch of a compliment,

in the glow of the overflow

of appreciation

We will laugh at lightness, we will laugh

at Taking Ourselves Too Seriously —

not to close anyone out

but to bring them in, to remind them

none of this weighs more

than dandelion fluff, it is all carried

in cushioned tenderness

through the laughing back eddies

of a larger current

which ultimately delivers

that which really matters

to its starting place

in the waiting land.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 23, 2016

Shelters

Later in life, I’ve found

there are many kinds of shelter,

many ways we lean upon each other,

many structures that give us what we need

(fairy tale castles, after all,

being hard to come by,

and within, beset by drafts and rodents,

picture perfect cottages proved lacking

in dimension)

I have a lean-to in a corner of my mind

that’s made of nothing, as far as I can tell,

except my love,

I have a fire

that delights me every time

I find it still burning,

its cheering flames

produced by time with friends

I have a sense that after

all my fumbling efforts at this life,

the shelters lost, or casually abandoned,

I’ll come to find that nothing mattered,

and everything did,

that shelter resides

in any circle of support,

and they are numerous

as crystals on the shore.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 28, 2016

Starting Over

They often wished

they could start over again —

debts cancelled, unfortunate words

retracted, sideways first impressions

wiped away

They had the feeling

if they could only be seen

in their true light,

they would be understood,

if they were given a chance,

they could convey their true regard

Let us then consider:

Others have wished this

as much as we have.

Let’s give them a chance

to start over.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 28, 2015

Refuge

We slide into laughter,

an intimate cove,

a secret cave,

a place between the sky

and the deep

(the wet of tears at the edges

making the rocks gleam)

Laughter like bubbling water,

thirst quenching and cool,

a little ledge we can hide on,

safe from the churn of fears and tragedy,

safe from the shafts of analysis

and resolutions.

We bring up the things

that made us laugh before,

just to keep us here

a little longer.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 24, 2015

Acceptance

I think of this

as if it were utopia,

and yet it should be fundamental —

basic, unrestrained, whole-heart acceptance

of everyone for being who they are

That we could simply be ourselves together —

nothing to withhold,

nothing to bestow,

no accolades to earn, no shame to shrink from,

no hierarchy of “in”, of “hip”, of “cool”,

No chairs to win, tryouts to fail,

nothing to prevent us from just seeing

in ourselves and in each other,

the wholly uncontested and essential,

the deeply needed for the

part that no one else can play,

the curious, ecstatic, quirky wonder

of each of us —

Yes, that would win the day.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 22, 2015

photo by Edward Mulhern

Comfort

This habit of being,

of being together,

of being comfortable in contact,

fitting naturally into the curves and hollows

of each other

provides a wordless nourishment,

a sense of home never achieved

by staid convention 

or polite conversation

Our bones know

this is what we need:

We put our hands together

to feel the shared vibration,

we put our heads together

to hum as one.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 11, 2015

Pottery by Jennifer McCurdy, photo by Gary Mirando

Irreplaceable

Of course you’re irreplaceable

for infinite Mind is too interested

in every molecule and moment

not to attend especially to each one

No factory assembly here,

no stamping blocks

insuring uniformity —

Each one arises from the need

within itself,

Each grows within the pattern of its being

Each leans into the call 

to fill its place,

to be the perfect answer

to the perfect questions 

reaching out around it

So of course you’re irreplaceable

but more than in that sense —

it’s also true

There’s no one else

with whom I’m me

the way I am with you.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 18, 2014

Climb

I was walking looking backward

because my work was beautiful

and my friends were beautiful

and oh, my love was beautiful

and I didn’t want to leave them

But there are turns along this path

and footsteps that require my attention,

There is so much to keep learning —

Things I don’t even have names for, yet

So I will look forward, and trust

that love and friendship,

like the moon,

will still preside over my days

and not be lost

around the many bends ahead.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 4, 2014

Foibles

Perhaps my biggest foible

is to try to hide my foibles:

If I succeed

I have no safety net,

no understanding hands of friends

who have learned how to catch me

when I fall

And when I fail

(at least, at times, it’s been like this)

I am the last to know,

the last to see, with grateful eyes,

those steadfast and ironic hands

of friends who know this foible

and don’t tell me,

kindly shielding me

from the imagined fall

of seeing I’m not perfect after all.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 27, 2014

Sharing Stories

We traded in the currency of wisdom —

Bright beads strung on chains of story,

held out in our gesticulating hands,

exchanged in channels of our care

We were all lit up

in the refracted rays

of those deep gems

we each had mined,

ofttimes in solitary toil,

and now could bring out in the light

to share

So we grew richer,

the wealth of these being

the way they multiply when seen,

the way they fill up our dark places

with a glow that warms us solidly

while still revealing

their enticing depth.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 28, 2014