Induction

I make my way by induction,

as by candle light, long before dawn —

I look, first, for the first reason —

why you would even open your eyes,

why you would care, 

why you would rise

I see you couldn’t be there

without the spark, you would be nothing

without desire

And if the spark is present,

it must really be the only thing —

it wouldn’t let itself

be mostly snuffed out

It wouldn’t let itself be used

to power anything unlike itself —

to power dread or burden,

or soul deadening requirements

If the spark is here

then it will dictate joy —

joy, and strength, and vigor —

it will spread the whole day

with sweet harmony,

for so it is, by nature

And if this is what’s here,

I’ll see it. Gently,

modest as the dawn,

radiant as day. I’ll recognize it

in every light that shows the way.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 4, 2019

This Morning

I looked out the window

and thought of how the names

of colors (or lack of names)

affect the way we see,

and prayer and fasting

and what it means to believe

I tended the fire

and drank my tea

and considered what it means

to lose all faith in death,

and what life is

if it’s not temporal

Outside the ravens

were droll and musical,

the cat was eager for my lap,

and if I’m able to cast out demons,

I’m also willing. I take that with me

into my day.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 21, 2019

Hymns

We found songs in the wilderness —

some were left for us

by ones who had traversed the path before —

they told of things

we hoped one day to see

Others rose out of the rock

and the work, and the constant travel,

and the bone pure perception,

in the air, in the stillness,

of the Truth that guided us

along the searing way

We sang songs in the wilderness,

and as the land began to green,

we recognized some things

that we had sung about so often,

only guessing and imagining

how they might be

We sang songs of the wilderness

resting in the promised land, rejoicing in the gardens,

learning the things our songs had named,

also remembering 

how we were inspired

when we were headed here

from far away.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 30, 2019

Morning Prayer

Let me feel Your presence

like morning dew

that settles in so gently,

occasioning the tiny movements

of my thought, the small adjustments

that let the truth sink in

so I am nourished,

so I am changed

Let me respond

in opening of new blooms,

the possibilities Your truth advances

in places where the untrue myths

have melted off,

the startling expanse

engendered by Your everpresent light

Let me grow into it

in just the pace that You design,

calling me by name,

saying, “you are mine.”

©Wendy Mulhern

July 20, 2019

Words of the Prayer

I keep coming back to the words,

they keep reminding me,

they rise in thought

inviting me to take their meaning,

inviting me to stop everything

and go down deep

and let myself be fully realigned

The words keep coming back to me

like glimpses of beauty

and the sudden concentration of freshness

in the air — from what? from wind,

from sun? From the sweet breath

of trees and grass?

They come to me

like looking up and being amazed,

like seeing something that is always there

but now insists that I notice.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 28, 2019

Temple

Can my prayer 

be anything but constant?

Are there other things to think about

than Mind’s omniscient action?

or other things to feel

than Soul’s uplifting?

Are there other things to do

than Life’s unfolding,

or any other place I’d want to be?

I used to think it sounded dull

to never leave the temple,

but now I’ve been there

and glimpsed the size of it.

It’s everything, really,

and everywhere there is,

and I am happy

to go no more out.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 21, 2019

Assessment

And if I didn’t avail myself

of all the gifts of the day —

if I saw the lifting light of afternoon

but didn’t venture out,

if I saw the pink of eastern clouds

hint of splendid setting in the west

but stayed inside

I still enjoyed the coziness,

the being warm and dry,

the light and heat

available at fingertips

I still enjoyed the prospect

of a peace so unassailable

that everyone, so gratefully

would sink, delighted, in,

cradled, welcomed, and redeemed,

and thus made new.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 7, 2019

Light Prayer

Grant me this:

Let me bring the light forth

into my day. Let it make a difference.

Let it do more

than light me up inside —

let it illumine

the treasures of the hearts of others.

Let them see themselves

as deeply, dearly seen

You who have shined the light in me,

I ask you to complete this —

it is your work to bring it forth

and mine to hold it up.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 9, 2019

A Way to Pray

How to pray is

you set the silent seal

that draws you

into the heart of yourself

where you lie close

along what causes you,

where you feel the breath

of every impulse of your source,

that blessed companionship

that gives you all you need

This is in fact your essence

and your sovereignty,

where your longings are fulfilled,

today and every day.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 8, 2019

Heather at prayer time

Blessed and at peace

in the sweet time of closure,

end of day, work done,

I feel you near me,

droll and kind

We have come along this way together,

you, of late, making your presence known

as light, as gentle impulse,

as patient humor at my dim grasp

of what you know so well

We will be together

now and continually,

and more fully,

the more I comprehend.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 24, 2018

Sleepless

In the depths of night

when I’m not sleeping,

when I’m praying

and it’s too dark to see anything

except night sky between dark branches

and there’s really no place to go,

no place to be but here

Let there be light —

let there be something more tangible

than my firm conviction and strong hope —

let them find confirmation at dawn,

let my life embody this truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 13, 2018

Rooftop Prayers

Dust and pollen have sifted

through the quiet air,

the soft breezes,

warm and wistful

have lifted 

the scent of lilacs

and brought it here

I will reach through this 

drifting afternoon, 

to find the prayer

that knows the heart

of all these living things,

and brings me there,

where I, too, can know

my core and highest cause,

where I, too, can be the message

long awaited, gladly shared.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 8, 2018

The Practitioners

Every one of them

has an invitation,

every one of them

has a key,

every one of them can enter

the upper chamber, the light-filled room

whose ceiling is heaven,

whose glow will bathe them,

and everyone they bring with them,

in healing light. They are not alone here

though they came alone. In their solitude

their light lifts the whole atmosphere

and all of us breathe freer.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 22, 2018

Pleading

There is precedent for pleading

so I’m pleading now,

though I know I don’t even

own the voice I plead with,

though I know Your truth

informs my every thought

There is precedent for pleading

so I’m pleading now —

Lord, there are so many of us

who will be lifted by this light,

so much hope conferred

in this simple proof.

Show me the way.

Cause me to understand.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 21, 2018

Touch me — a prayer

Touch me with your spirit,

touch me until I am lit up

to the point of discovering

I am all light

and my rays

are all yours

and my desire

all comes from what you are,

what you impart

Touch me so I feel recognized

from the inside out

so I know

there is nothing of me

that you don’t know,

nothing you don’t love,

and the lift I feel

all along my form

is just me touching in

to what you have held for me,

what you have held me as,

how you have beheld me,

all my days.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 16, 2018

Protest

We put in our protest

against this box of pain —

it doesn’t get to hem us in

or stare us in the face

in every place we turn

How have we asked to be betrayed?

What have we swallowed

to render us unworthy?

Where have we believed

that we deserve this pain —

What have we chosen?

We asked to be beloved,

we asked to be the ones

who shine the essence forth

of all that is

We asked to have the depth

that would include ourselves

and everyone we see

and everyone we know about

in the hallowed harmony

of who we are

We have not asked for pain,

and what we have not asked for

we can not receive. 

This is what I ask

to see for myself.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 26, 2018

Walking Meditation

I walk like a whisper

in the time when dark

is turning light,

when people are up

because they have to

(so it seems to me)

lights on, cars starting up,

while other houses sleep

Around my hands and arms

and in my breath, the gift —

the gift of presence

and the almost-tasted promise

of being dearly loved

Along the sidewalks,

in the grass, and in the street,

my feet step dutiful —

not yet tuned in, perhaps,

to the day’s blessings.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 17, 2017

Morning Prayer

Pick me up gently,

set me straight,

remind me where I come from,

where I’m going,

not a robot, banging head

against the wall,

time and again

confounded by a corner

You set my face

towards the wide spaces

where the sun summons

the morning mist

and slowly melts it off,

rolling out brightness,

rolling out blue

And all the angles I was worrying

dissolve — there are no corners here —

just the day,

the love-sourced day.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 30, 2017

Pray for us

Pray for us —

we acknowledge we are lost

and all the tools we normally would use

are overwhelmed

by current inundations

Pray for us —

we don’t believe that any simple help

from people, though their efforts 

may be great,

can reach the need 

we flounder in right now

Pray for us —

if we are to be saved

it has to be by something

that can’t go down with darkness,

something with enough light

to startle us awake from nightmares

Something that knows

the buoyant truth of us

was never buried

and will outshine

all the terror, loss, and pain.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 29, 2017

Secret Place

My entrance into the secret place

and the stillness there

is assured

The door is anywhere,

close as my thought,

close as my prayer

A quick lasso around

the rapid scramble of the day,

a net that holds

the worried chattering at bay

A silent sinking

into the depths of truth,

a steady drinking

of what fulfills me

And I am home

as I have always been,

in peace and power

same as I ever was.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 23, 2017