silver dollar

 

bathed in morning light

the moon a silver dollar

in a cloudless sky

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Navigation

When you need help

navigating this life,

from a place of obscurity

to a sense of purpose;

If you are still

wondering how

to make yourself

necessary;

Ask the Holy Spirit within

to stir your heart and soul,

to discover the reasons

for why you are placed here.

Listen to the gentle urging.

Follow whispered instructions.

Then embrace 

what you are called  to be.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. & 2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

3. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

 

Visibility

Out here in the desert
my words evaporate
and rise into high, thin cirrus,
and parallel bands of stratus.

Miles of space
between me and the
Santa Catalina Mountains.

Space that absorbs thought,
and evokes daydreams,
as I spot places in the foothills
that I want to climb.

The visibility
so close to infinity.

Already these words
are vanishing.

©2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. SaddleBrooke - Arizona

Space Between the Stars

 

Although the vast space between the stars

is windless and soundless,

it could still accommodate

the voice of God;

it would not require

light years to arrive, would it?

Not heard, precisely,

but possibly perceived

in some mysterious way

by those longing to listen

with patience, reverence, 

and genuine innocence;

like St. Francis of Assisi

in his magical garden.

Perhaps, with authentic receptivity,

we may hear divinity speaking.

Someday, somewhere,

in the space between the stars.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Catalina, Arizona 

 

Weather on the Moon

 

If there is no weather on the moon,

I would never want to live there.

I prefer the atmosphere here,

since my birth on the earth.

Take me climbing in the Rocky Mountains,

or walking the Lake Michigan shores.

I will trek the Arizona deserts,

or stroll the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

I can see the moon from any place here,

so why would I want to go there?

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. West Elk Wilderness - Colorado

2. Florence, Arizona

3. Sunset Beach, North Carolina

4. Fort Myers, Florida

 

Deciduous

 

Right now, under the

brittle shell of winter,

below the insulating snow,

beneath the layer 

of mulching leaves,

within and throughout

the mineralized soil,

live roots and rootlets

angle and tangle,

probe through microbes,

lengthen and strengthen,

stretching and fetching

nourishment for these

wintering deciduous trees.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Lowell Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Polygons

 

Underwater,

polygons of light

quiver on stones,

waver on rocks;

bright on the bottom

of clear Lake Superior.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Whitefish Point - Michigan

3. Sugarloaf Cove - Minnesota

Receptacle III

 

After gathering

a worthy collection of words,

and arranging them

in an acceptable receptacle,

I seek relevant images

for my words to clothe.

And I go to the source

of the ultimate in creativity;

God's astonishing creation

within the wonders of nature.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

You may also like: "Receptacle II" July 23, 2020 & "Receptacle" May 2, 2016

Photo Locations:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Church Rock - Canyonlands National Park - Utah

  

Timeless

 

These ocean waves

keep repeating

the relentless

movement of time.

And as you inhabit 

your own physical form,

can you possibly imagine

the eternity of your soul

carried on the breath

of the Holy Spirit

to an incomprehensible realm;

the timeless eternal kingdom?

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint - Oregon

2. Sanibel Island - Florida