Entering at the door

Let me approach

with utmost respect,

with reverence for the size and shape

of the place in you

that is designed to open

You will recognize me

in our mutually reflected light —

you will let me in,

you will come out to play

We will multiply our brightness

like flames in oxygen,

like fragrant blossoms in the midday sun,

we will be fed

and we will feed each other

in the pastures of the Allness of the One.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 29, 2020

Preparation of the Heart

I may bring tears to this process —

it doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here,

doesn’t mean I don’t want to be cleansed

I may bring tears —

it doesn’t mean I’m sad —

they are, I guess, a way that I surrender,

a way that I acknowledge

I can’t do this alone,

nor even know the “this” I should be doing

Prepare my soil —

banish the traffickers of worldly ways,

break up the rocks, dissolve the thorns,

prepare my soul,

and I’ll be here to water your sweet seed.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 10, 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

Using the Devil

I’m finding the devil useful —

someone to blame

for every unkind thought,

for fear, resentment,

and the harsh voices

that want to judge

my every action,

and those of others

I’m finding it useful

to shift the blame

from anyone real

to something that can’t exist,

thereby revealing

how sweet and fresh and beautiful

everything truly is.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 11, 2019

Commandments

Because we are dearly loved,

we haven’t been left

to wander through this dream alone.

The guiding signs have been written

in the pattern of ferns,

in the movement of clouds

They have been placed

in the throats of birds,

irresistible for them to sing,

They have been given to us in scents

and in the breath of winds

And set down, too, in words

which, though in dream state

we may think of as commandments,

are ways for us to fathom

what we are,

these truths that, when we keep them,

anchor everything,

and with their clearing focus

wake us up.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 28, 2016

Joy in Heaven

We’ve been dwelling in that bright edge

called Joy in Heaven, called

glory of needs met, the clasp

of reunion, the satisfaction

of soul-hunger fully fed

We didn’t know

that what seemed to us as

long nights with no stars,

deep tunnels with no exit,

hopes dashed again and again

was really just a backdrop

for the enduring truth

of our awakening

We didn’t realize that the bitterness

of what we thought was our perpetual betrayal,

when sweetened by the taste 

of our belovedness,

would turn out to be

something else entirely,

something deeply craved

by all the host,

something greatly celebrated

as we come home.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 24, 2016

Instruction

In humble obedience

I loose myself

from the bands of my neck,

I rise

I stand up

shake myself free

What missive is this anyway?

What authority so advocates

for liberty? What judge commands

that I serve no penance,

that I be simply released?

What instruction is this,

that bids me fly on my desire

and soar up quickly

to infinity? 

That bids me walk unburdened

from any self-induced

or generational weight 

Shake yourself from the dust,

it says. What will this mean for me

in each new day? What worlds

I will master, if I but cleave

to this direction!

What songs I’ll sing

in the joy of fresh discovery!

©Wendy Mulhern

August 23, 2016

Caregiving

We look for signs of heaven

in our cool living room

(sheltered from summer heat)

when the old man awakes from sleep

and asks, are all my sisters gone?

I lived a good life, he says.

Yes, you’ll make it in alright, I say.

I ask him what he thinks it’s like,

and if he thinks he'll see them.

He says a little; I don’t press it

For I feel we’ve touched, perhaps,

a depth I haven’t seen in some time

(or maybe ever)

I listen, instead, to the sound of traffic

coming in the open window.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 28, 2016

Offering

I will bow down

in order to take off,

I will dip into the slip stream,

I will rise swiftly, pulled up

by the climbing current

Each day, to do this, I will sacrifice:

I will give up my fear.

I will slip it off my neck, over my head,

I will lay it down. Thus unburdened, 

I will be ready for the updraft,

when it comes. I will stretch my arms wide

to take it in, to revel in the sheer expansiveness

of flight

I will remember:

humility is light and pliant —

it is no pain to carry,

it is so much better

than all those splintered beams,

those sharp shards,

those things I used before

to try to build myself

I bow my head

to receive this blessing,

I serve this truth

in order to be free.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 5, 2016

Behold the fowls of the air

Let me fly

in the rich provision for my being,

let me take no thought

for what will hold me,

what will glide me

along the subtle billows of the day,

what will deliver me

glowing and fulfilled 

into the calm of evening

Let me take no thought

but let me know it fully,

let my gratitude warble

in a voice much larger than my form

across the land.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 16, 2016

Bread of Life

Oh — taste this:

The bread of life

is not a metaphor —

What really sustains us

is not metabolism,

and what we’re made of

really is the one thing,

the flavors of which 

are joy, exhilaration, love

What sustains us in our being

is kindness, and seeing others true,

and gladness to be here,

to be the light of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 10, 2016

Going Forth

I will take nothing with me,

no preparations, no opinions,

no preconceptions as to

what I may contribute,

what I may receive,

no assessments of the problems

or the limits, no concerns

about the inputs or the outcomes

I will take nothing with me

but the promise

that what I need will arise

in the alchemy of interaction,

in the provision, in the book of Life,

for the perfect meeting of everything

and the exultant spark

of the connection

that lights up all the stars 

that comprise our presence.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 9, 2016

Facing Down the Dragon

The fact that I wrote something

doesn’t mean I really know it,

and even when I feel

within my deepest core

(Lord, I believe)

something is true,

it doesn’t mean I really understand

But coming round again and again,

things start to get clearer

(Help thou mine unbelief)

and eventually the swollen, writhing tail

must cease to sweep away the stars,

must fall, jellied and lifeless 

as a tail a lizard lost,

before the hand of Truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 5, 2015

Standing Wave

My body is a standing wave of Spirit —

As Spirit flows, so I am,

The steady coursing of present Life

defines my being, shapes me,

fills me with sustaining joy.

As Spirit moves, so I move —

Thus, in my flesh,

I see God.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 20, 2015

Flesh

I will see God

in my own flesh,

I will know in my body

that I am healed

I will feel the truth

in that most intimate way

where my body speaks

and my so-called mind

is taken entirely by surprise

and must surrender

to the imperative

presented in the moment

This experience

will not be co-opted —

though I seek to reproduce it,

touching flesh together

to re-enact the spark,

constructing circumstances

to replay the moment,

building fantasies to lead me back

I will at last be led

to the Spirit source

that owns everything

I can feel or know,

that wakes up everything

— heart, soul, flesh —

to exaltation,

to the mystery of Life.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 10, 2015

photo by Edward Mulhern

Faith

You scoff at the stories

of how people found God —

I love you and the aliveness

behind your stance, the unwillingness

to be sold salvation by anyone,

to swallow stories

that set things neatly up —

castles made of blocks —

and plant the faithful conveniently

at the top

Some people may be called to faith

as if it were a club, and some, as if it were

network marketing.

You will never believe

what someone else tells you —

The voice inside,

deeper in than where suggestions can be planted,

whispers what you are:

You’ll follow that.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 12, 2015

Evil’s End

The veil has been rent —

the illusion that plagued us

is gone, like the face of a burst balloon,

and even the reflexive repugnance

that trickled bitter down our throats

has disappeared

So we are no longer willing to accept

wheels ever-spinning in mud,

and the dragon no longer gets to

sweep away a third of the stars

from heaven

All the things we were struggling for

are lost from view — 

we see the remaining distorted image

now two-dimensional

on the scrap of discarded balloon

And day rises, dew jeweled,

before our grateful eyes.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 6, 2015

Teachings

“They shall teach no more every man his neighbor saying ‘know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, saith the Lord.”

We shall not teach

the steps for finding goodness:

try this diet, exercise or meditation,

renounce your ego to become enlightened,

adopt these habits of communication,

release your fears, embrace your shadow

We won’t be offering

all those helpful paths

to fix yourself, to heal your life

to find out who you really are

Because you’ll know.

We all will, from the inside.

We’ll know the bright joy

that springs up within

permeating everything

bringing forth dynamic understanding

opening the infinite dimensions

of what we see we’ve always known we are.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 24, 2015

“Goodness and mercy shall follow me”

Goodness and mercy

will be in my wake

in the places I have been

after I’ve gone through

Goodness and mercy

will be the result

of my presence

like flowers blooming in footprints

All the days of my life

So I shall dwell

in the happy certainty

not only of having done no harm

but of blessing

I shall not want

for all my hope

is thus fulfilled.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 22, 2015