Unspoken

Twilight fades and shades the faces

of outcropping desert rocks,

as another purple dusk

climbs over this sandstone ridge.

The mind cannot comprehend

the slow passage of time here.

But the memory of rock

spans millenniums.

Waiting in this vast desert,

listening for God's voice,

I will always remember

the density of the silence.

And in that moment,

the silent praise

I gave for these gifts

unspoken.

©  2013  Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Canyonlands National Park,  (Canyonlands)  Utah 

Stranded

 

Curled into coils upon coarse sand
flexible tubes tubing
bulging bladders ballooning
swirling into a mosaic
in the family of browns.

Yanked from the sea floor
by waves of turbulence
saltwater detritus
cast off by the Pacific Ocean
washed up during high tide.

 

Leaves flat, flared and rubbery.
The longer I study it,
the more I discover it
is so much more than
what a Midwesterner
would call seaweed.

          Stranded
          on the sand.
                                          Noticed 
                                          by no one.
                                                                      Noticed
                                                                      by one.







Photo Location:

Pacific Grove,  (Pacific Grove)  California

Kingbirds

male shows off his skills

Kingbird flies in chalky sky

is female impressed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on photo to enlarge.

Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus

 

Photo Location :  Pickerel Lake Park,   (Pickerel)  (Fred Meijer Nature Preserve)

Kent County,  Michigan



Fragments of Poetry 10

"To the abandoned fields
The trees returned and grew.
They stand and grow. Time comes
To them, time goes, the trees
Stand; the only place
They go is where they are.
These wholly patient ones
Who only stand and wait
For time to come to them,
Who do not go to time,
Stand in eternity.
They stand where they belong.
They do no wrong, and they
Are beautiful. What more
Could we have thought to ask?
Here God and man have rest."  *

* from poem: "Sabbaths 2000 - IX " from: Given - Poems by Wendell Berry  © 2005


Photo Location: Planada, California

Whispering - Listening

This sudden breeze
carries a message.

Like voices passing
between the branches.

Like music playing
among the leaves.

Now it's leaving,
returning to calm.

Was the Spirit
whispering?

Were you
listening?

©  2013  Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Hartwick Pines State Park  (Hartwick Pines), Grayling (Grayling),  Michigan  (Michigan)

Drops of Rain

 six small drops of rain

curled within a blade of grass

morning stillness holds

 

 

©  2013  Richard Havenga

 

 

 

 



Willow's Shadow

yellow-green willow branch
once mangled by winter ice
now stretches over current
thrives in heavy heat
backlit by morning sun

caddisflies converge
into sunlit cloud
over warm water
a dense mass of life
briefly alive

swallows and waxwings
patrol upstream, downstream
from north bank to south bank
devouring the swarming hatch
this abundant harvest of summer

under the willow's shadow
small river joins large river
their joining
smooth as summer heat
quiet as morning light





Photo Location:

Confluence of Flat River and Grand River - Lowell,  Michigan

The Vessel

 Observe this intricate weaving:

 

This insect-trapping snare.

This delicate dish of silken threads.

This vessel of water molecules.

This string of magnificent jewels.

This symmetrical basket of mist.

This collection of diamonds upon the earth.

 

Who could possibly determine their worth?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 Photo Location:

 

Snake River,  Grand Teton National Park,  (Tetons)  Wyoming  (Wyoming)

 

 

 

 

 

 



Drifting

Each morning,
checking the thermometer.
After a rain,
squinting at the gauge.

Recording faithfully
in his journal
at the top
of every page.

Every day,
studying the clouds,
drifting swiftly
through his old age.

©  2013  Richard Havenga