These flexible reeds,
in knee deep water,
rise in slender columns
above the lake,
lean in the wind,
create delicate, artful arches,
sway with undulating waves,
provide shelter for nymphs,
resting places for dragonflies,
add substance to the shallows,
and focal points for
your admiring eyes.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
2. McCarthy Lake - Cannonsburg, Michigan
Is that eternity I see
on the distant horizon
where ocean meets sky?
I'm becoming aware
of the divine presence
just beyond my reach.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Delnor Wiggins Pass State Park - Naples, Florida
I wonder if the fish,
(if they had larger brain capacity)
looking up to the surface
and seeing His footprints
(appearing, disappearing, appearing),
walking with faith during the storm,
could they be thinking:
Could that be the same man
who said, "cast your nets"?
The one who gathered
so many of our brothers
that they filled the boat
to overflowing?
© 2023 Richard Havenga
The silky sand
slanting on grassy dunes
along the Lake Michigan shore
invite my bare feet
to run up the ridge,
around the poplar trees,
and leap in long bounds
back down the slope,
then, high-stepping the waves,
to plunge into the clear, cool water
of magnificent Lake Michigan,
invigorated,
refreshed,
restored.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Some days the clouds
float across the sky
like healing messages;
white wishes drifting
through your life,
prayer beads fingered
by the hands of the wind.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan
2. Catalina, Arizona
3. St. Patrick Church - Parnell, Michigan
A Mourning Dove
the color of river mud,
the color of autumn dusk,
puffs up its breast feathers
and murmurs a soft lament;
cooing up and down the scale.
Emphasizing the vowels "o" and "u".
Repeating the question "who?"
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Play the Mourning Dove call: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Canon Township - Kent County - Michigan
Where the sunlight
pierces the rain
is where you'll find
the arc of the promise.
Within the visible
spectrum of color,
where the truth
is revealed.
Where your
imagination rests
at the joining
of sunshine and rain.
A radiant vision.
This luminous covenant.
More translucent
than transparent.
Resplendent,
but inscrutable.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Home road - Cannonsburg, Michigan
This poet likes to be near
the color of water.
The sound of the rapids.
The smell of spring rain.
The prisms of morning dew.
The long, flowing rivers.
The expanse of the oceans.
To summon their influence.
To color the words.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. North Fork Payette River - Idaho
3. Mount Tamalpais - California
