full of grace

I walk
through flat galaxies
of small-petaled stars

full of grace
and soft light;

little prayer circles
filling summer fields.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Cardinal Flower

beauty in excess

an intensity of red

this queen of the shade

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve (Meijer) - Kent County, Michigan

syllables of song

syllables of song

sung by birds invisible

through this dense green shroud

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Seal Bay Nature Park - Courtenay, British Columbia

Return from the West

After returning
from the endless skies,
encircled by long horizons,
and driving the visible miles
on the plains of Kansas;

After viewing Colorado's
bouldered streams
and magnificent mountains
growing with tall spruces
and spreading Ponderosa Pines;

I am surrounded, again,
by this wall of green;
a thick, humid canopy
of Red Oaks and Black Oaks,
this density of summer leaves.

The far out
crowns of trees
are swaying in the wind,
brushing the sky
back and forth.

But down here
on the backyard deck,
only a breath of breeze gets through.
Enough to turn the page
of the book I'm reading,

and suggest an idea
for a new poem.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Buena Vista, Colorado 

2. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

3. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Earth Angels

Gray cumulus sail in
like summer ships
carrying the covenant of rain.

This silver fringe,
on a blue-gray curtain,
hanging from the cloud base. 

Like angels waiting;
wanting to touch the earth,
but only letting their hair down.

Soft brush strokes
of promise;
a gesture of hope.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Rocky Mountain National Park ~ Colorado 

Her Grace

Queen Anne's Lace,
slighter denser than fog,
bow their soft faces
until the silver moisture is shed.

Rising then, to greet
the late morning sun,
these little lace umbrellas,
thriving in the fields,
go unnoticed by most.

But you,
by your presence,  
respect the common; 
give tribute and dignity 
to her grace.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

brushed

feathery grasses

being brushed by summer winds

like a silent song

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Wyoming 

Generous Gestures

The dignity of cumulus clouds
towering into the atmosphere.

The welcome warmth
of luxurious summer 
warming the skin.

The delicate crowns
of Queen Anne's Lace
nodding in the sun.

Feeling the glow
of these generous gestures,

my soul resonates;
astonished
by the intricacies of nature,

singing with silent praise
about the endless gifts
of creation.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy:

"gestures" - August 11, 2014

"Gesture II" - February 5, 2015 

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake Park ~ Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County, Michigan

2. & 3. Home fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan