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silver-gray banners

drift over rocky foothills

joining earth and sky

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Rewards

for John D'amico

You are:

a climber of mountains,
a hiker of deserts,

an explorer of wilderness,

a seeker of solitude.

Bluffs and buttes,
crags and crests,
ridges and ravines,
creeks and canyons
become your dwelling place.

You tread
so quietly the earth,
that God rewards you
with the extraordinary gifts
of His creation.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Glacier National Park - Montana

2. Canyonlands National Park - Utah

3. Picacho Peak - Arizona

4. Tabernash, Colorado

5. Monument Valley - Utah

Time to Play

The children climb 
off the school bus
with promise in their faces,
with hope in their hearts.

They eat the
chocolate chip cookies
mommy baked for them,
then change into their old clothes,

because when he gets home,
Daddy will make time,
Daddy will take time,
to play outside.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: 

"A Father's Day Message" ~ June 20, 2015


Photo Location: Kent County - Michigan

Ten Million Leaves

Straight trunks of aspen
stand solid and tall;
white wooden pillars
climb the foothills,
mingle with spruce,

where ten million leaves will
soon shimmer with golden light.

Then,
at the edge of evening,
the breeze subsides,
the quaking ends,
the calm returns.

Populus tremuloides !

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. La Plata Mountains - Durango, Colorado

2.  Ouray, Colorado

3. South Fork, Colorado

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Dahlia

heart of dahlia

opening more everyday

invites you to stay

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Butchart Gardens - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Sing of the Wilderness

Colors awaken with the dawn.
Morning sunlight sweeps
the canopy of trees
above the Snake River.

I want my words
to sing of the wilderness.

To share with you
new things to love
about the world. 

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River Overlook ~ Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Oxbow Bend - Snake River ~ Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

entering

entering this place;

perceptual awareness

flowing through my soul

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Dinosaur National Monument - Utah

God Speaks

Behind the silent stillness,
and within commanding storms,
God speaks an exclusive language
beyond our mortal words.

How to listen?
How to embrace
the grace of our days?

Simply carry these gifts
as grateful people,
and lay them at his altar
as worship.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Haven Lighthouses - Michigan

2. Sunset Beach - North Carolina

3. Glacier National Park - Montana

Accepting

Extending from rigid
willow branches,
flexible yellow braids
bend in the breeze,
curve in the current;
yielding, yet resilient. 

Supple as slow thought.
Accepting what is  given.
Anticipating what is to come:

from the wind in the willows,
from the rapids in the river,
from the surprises in life.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Big Crooked Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Leslie E. Tassell Park - Cascade Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Thornapple River - Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michgan