Lessons

These things are revealed to me

day by day:

the freedom that is possible,

and, too, the webs that trap us

and trick us into actions we don’t want

None of us desire to oppress each other,

none of us desire to offend,

none of us desire to be stupid or obtuse,

each of us would rather be a friend

We feel the need to clamor to be heard,

we feel the need to strike back when we’re slighted,

we feel the need to see the balance tip toward justice,

we wonder how the others

can be so benighted

Such thoughts don’t free me, though.

Nor will any resolution I can make.

Let me attune to everyone’s desire

to be free to love. Let my life

show them that they are.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 9, 2016

Our Ride

The key perception

is knowing what we ride on,

what holds the rolling forces

through which we move,

what keeps us full and vital

and in play

Then we’ll know it’s not dependent

on anything except the one infinity,

and how we’re held in sweet divinity,

wedded to the brightness of our days

And we won’t be frightened

by threats that we might lose

our source of comfort and protection,

or that the place where we belong

could fall away

For then we’ll stand up strong

against whatever may claim power,

ride steady and exhilarated

through the fray,

showing by our lives

the nature of our strength,

showing with our love

the winning way.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 17, 2016

How We Win

You never were

that lost and lonely soul

that fought back, kicking,

that raged and spat

You never were

that desperate, huddled one

that squeezed, eyes shut,

against a tiny crack,

too small to justify,

to big to hide

You’ve always been beloved,

you never needed to atone,

and all the demons

that wrought all kinds of havoc

in your name

must shrivel, powerless

before the truth that you can claim

This is how we win —

soul by soul, to patiently restore.

This is the beginning

to which we now return —

so let it stand,

so let us soar.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 6, 2016

The Calculus of Love

There are things about the calculus of love

which are meticulously hidden

from the common story

The equations of care and of giving

are set forth as a balance, with a tally

as if love should be judiciously bestowed

on those who prove their worthiness, 

who earn it

But this arithmetic cannot account

for the infinity of life released by loving,

the boundless joy that courses through a lover

when love is simply wholly freely given

We’re made to think that if we love,

we’re owed something,

but in the calculus of love 

we learn we’re not.

The lessons are not easy

but Love will tutor us,

if we show up in love each day and practice.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 5, 2016

For The Taking

I see that actually

the light can’t be hid,

the gift can’t be co-opted.

The revolutionary nature of truth

can’t be bought out or bought off,

can’t be papered over

with worldly celebration

No matter how extensive

and prolonged the misdirection,

our compass, finally,

will guide us home

to where we see the gift

of our inherent liberation

has never been withheld,

and no one stops us 

from standing up to claim it

And as we claim it, we will feel

incomparable joy of solidarity

and we will fill

with that revealing light

which makes us know certainly

why we are here.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 4, 2016

Note to my email readers: I would dearly love to hear your responses, but I don't receive them when you hit "reply" to my email. (notice how it says "donotreply" in the address. That means the emails don't get to me). If you click on the blue title of my poem, it will take you to my website. At the end of the poem is a place for you to reply. I'd really love to hear from you.

This Peace

I can bask in choral warmth

as day folds into darkness

and indoor lights glow brave,

I can retreat now

to overriding peace

I have not battled

at the front lines,

but revelations about the world's ways

have shaken me perceptibly

In these breaths,

I seek to step outside the false peace

of privilege, and feel towards the peace

that must be shared by everyone,

a peace that only Spirit can define,

a peace that sees us all as free, divine.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 3, 2016

pitcher by Adrien Miller

The Long Traverse

Regardless of our pushing,

we can’t go any faster

than the flow of things,

the time it takes the old man

to eat supper, the time

before he’s ready 

to go to bed,

the time it takes for thoughts

to fully form,

the time it takes to leave

These are things that may be known

but not by us —

We are required to fill our days

with everything we can —

what we stand for, what we value,

what will move us forward

though we know not where

Surely at some time

we’ll crest the hill

and see the land before us.

We just can’t say when.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 1, 2016

Note to my email readers: I would dearly love to hear your responses, but I don't receive them when you hit "reply" to my email. (notice how it says "donotreply" in the address. That means the emails don't get to me). If you click on the blue title of my poem, it will take you to my website. At the end of the poem is a place for you to reply. I'd really love to hear from you.