Translator

 

How to become a translator

of the language

of moving water:

Be out there, listening,

with ears that hear,

and a feeling of gratitude.

Understand that it cannot

be interpreted using mere words;

but expressed only with

a receptive heart

and a grateful awareness

of your current blessings.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

2. Payette River - Idaho 

Holy Waters

 

This is a hallowed land.

A sacred place,

consecrated by

the holy waters

of this mountain stream.

Where words rush by

in mystical motion.

Incomprehensible.

Inscrutable,

yet profound.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

The Poetry of Water

 

It's difficult to translate

the meaning of words

the mountain stream carries

as it hurries through the canyon;

bashing big boulders,

splashing through the rapids.

Elsewhere, the poetry of water slows

and swirls into clear pools;

transparent with nuance,

tranquil with meaning.

I kneel for a closer look.

Fine grasses and golden sky light 

reflect on the smooth surface.

Through the clear lens of water

I examine the bottom of the pool

and read in the rippled sand

the words collected there:

Slow down. Be still.

Observe the smallest

contours of creation.

But this poem 

does not end

here.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

3. Santa Catalina Mountains - Arizona

 

 

Tracks

I returned to the boot tracks
I left in the snowfield
the day before yesterday.

Today, they contained tiny seeds
from Mullein and Evening Primrose,
blown in by the winter wind.

Today, a batch of Horned Larks
and Dark-eyed Juncos
are feeding in the trough of my tracks.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Kent County - Michigan

3. Buena Vista, Colorado

4. Madera Canyon - Arizona

Each Day II

 

Each morning opens the day

with an invitation.

Each evening closes the day

with appreciation.

Each day is an opportunity

to say a prayer of gratitude

to God who numbers our days

and calms our restless hearts.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: "Each Day" ~ July 22, 2021 

Photo Locations:

1. Nanoose Bay - British Columbia - Canada

2. Buena Vista, Colorado

Shine

 

A poet always hopes

that the poem's words

will shine upon the page.

Be illuminated 

by the early light

of a June morning.

Create a sense of rhythm,

like the wavelets

licking the sandy shore.

Or the whooshing, rushing music

of a mountain stream

dancing with boulders.

Perhaps a gentle breeze

lifting and lilting

tiers of new maple leaves.

To wed experience with imagination.

Imagery with ingenuity.

Vision with enhanced awareness.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Lake Michigan - Grand Haven State Park - Michigan

3. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

Belonging

 

He loved to walk

along mountain streams;

upstream.

And stop often

to sit on a boulder

and listen to the water rush.

And to watch

the bold current splash

against pure light.

To look upstream

at the future

coming at him.

Or look downstream

at the past

beyond change.

Sometimes he would gather

flat, rounded rocks

to build a cairn.

His mind concentrated

on structural design,

balance and stability.

It all brought real comfort

and genuine contentment

to his mountain soul.

This is where he belonged.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

More

 

May your one singular life become more fruitful

than you ever thought possible.

May you regain the curiosity

you once held as a child.

You may be awakened by exuberant

birdsong in early spring.

You may hear the song of the river

and translate its meaning in your soul.

May you hear Sunday morning church bells

resound across farmers' fall fields.

May you feel the profound silence

of the night sky in winter.

You may find the Spirit inside you,

or reaching out to find you.

May you find more blessings

than you ever thought possible.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Blok Orchard - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Woods/Wetland - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Cannonsburg State Game Area - Kent County - Michigan

4. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

5. Inside the Steeple - St. Patrick Church - Parnell, Michigan

6. Luton Park - Rockford, Michigan 

Passing Through

 

Seasons are passing through us

from this vast ocean of sky.

A soft rain shower may be rinsing your face.

The wind could be furrowing your hair.

Red and yellow leaves falling at your feet.

Snow accumulating on your shoulders.

Silver-edged clouds holding the ceiling above your head.

And the light.

It's always the light,

performing miracles

in front of your eyes.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Buena Vista, Colorado

2. Kent County - Michigan

This is Dementia

In loving memory of Lillian Havenga (October 22, 1922 ~ September 2, 2021)

They can't remember where they've been,
a dark road ahead with an uncertain end. 

Now surrounded by shadows of doubt.

Is happiness dimmed by time,
or simply forgotten in the fog of forgetting?

Feeling like a fallen fruit, 
wanting only respect and acceptance.

They have become abandoned buildings;
former great designs now become mysteries.

Are regrets surrendered,
or abandoned?


Preferring comfortable habits,
fearing new experiences.

They are hidden behind the trees,
stuck inside the shadows. 


Trying to accept this new stage of life
with grace and dignity.

Struggling to accept their
dependence on others. 

Waiting at the gate,
but not knowing what for.

Now carrying new burdens
with the uncertainty of an orphan.

Brief fragments of understanding,
like razor-thin ice, are shattered
as they are formed.

Becoming a stranger to yourself. 

The memory becomes shallower,
like ripples upon the shore. 

Drifting in the eddy
between the former self
and the darkness ahead. 

Searching the darkness
with diminishing options,
seeking sameness for easier decisions.

Their memories grow old,
packed with stories often-told;

gathered into lumps of lint

deep in their warm pockets.

Now becoming transparent
inside their lonely days,
time refuses to move.

Thoughts are all tangled,

twisted into turmoil.

Silent as an old photograph
trying to hold on to yesterday.

Their parade of days
diminishing in the distance.

Their thoughts have gone astray.
There is nothing more to say.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Ada, Michigan

2. Sierra Vista, Arizona

3. Kent County - Michigan

4. Fountain, Colorado

5. Buena Vista, Colorado

6. Loveland, Colorado

7. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

8. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

9. Home Woods - wetland - Kent County, Michigan

10. Lincoln Beach, Oregon

11. Pickerel Lake - Kent County - Michigan

12. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

13. Southern California

14. Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming

15. Olympic National Park - Washington

16. 1896 Schoolhouse - Elkhart, Kansas

17. Centennial, Wyoming

18. Lowell, Michigan

Reluctant Poem

In the beginning,
this poem exhibited some reluctance
to cooperate (as you can see);
or even to ride along with me
at least until the next bridge
where we could have crossed it together
if we had gotten to it
in my pretty red truck.

But I stopped before the bridge,
got out, and began walking downstream
through this fine mountain valley.

Alone.

After I made it around the first bend,
I thought I heard the poem approaching;
sensed it getting closer to my brain,
perhaps changing its attitude.

Then, as I stopped, and looked back upstream,

there it was, indicating a desire to come along.
As it came closer, shyly at first,
I reached out to pat its shoulder. 

It gave me a little nudge.

The poem now became gracious 
in my presence;

and began pointing out a few things I might have missed:

Like the way the stream collected

the big sky and trees,

and returned these reflections for me to reflect on.

Like the sound of the current

that tumbled over and around
huge, smooth boulders.

It even called attention 
to the satisfied sound

of my own breathing,
as I inhaled the essence
of Ponderosa Pines.

I sat down in the pine-needled sunlight
to further absorb this pleasant landscape,

and hopefully become better acquainted

with this poem, and its intentions; 
but as I looked around,

it was gone. Just like that.

And long lines of words 
evaporated into the big sky. 

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. St. Ignace, Michigan

2. Buena Vista, Colorado

3. Bayfield, Colorado

4. Blackfoot River - Missoula, Montana

5. Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County, Michigan

6. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

7. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

8. Hamilton, Montana

9. South Dakota