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

Eight Years

The little boy
carries lilacs
in his warm hands,
into the warm kitchen
where his mother is 
baking brownies for him.

She accepts
his precious gift of lavender,
inhales the fragrance of spring,
her eyes glistening with love;
his eyes sparkling with pride.

Remembering the spring
he was born
eight years ago;

eight years since
her husband
brought her lilacs
from the same bush.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Kent County - Michigan

Taste of Morning

I love the taste of morning,
and the warm splash
of early light
upon the fields.

And the hard work 
of the farmers
coming into fruition,
approaching harvest.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

  Photo Locations:

1. Soybeans, 2. Corn & Hay, 3. Soybeans - Lowell Township - Kent County - Michigan 

Time Spent

The morning sky is vast,
and covers you with this
new day.

All day, this day keeps
changing its appearance.
Warm, soft light intensifies
into the hard glare of afternoon,
until the slow leaving of evening
keeps you blinking to see more
through dimming light.

Keeps you grateful for the time
you got to spend outdoors,
because, despite hope for tomorrow,
if this was your last new day,
it was time spent well. 

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Kent County, Michigan

Wind Instruments

Out in these rolling fields,
the wind is caressing
the tall and slender grasses,
and the tawny heads of wheat,

wishing to create pastoral music
before the grass becomes hay,

before the stalks become straw,
before the remnants
become short, stiff, stubble
void of melody.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 4. Lowell Township - Kent County, Michigan

2. & 3. Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan

Through the Ears

Birdsong in the morning
helps to launch the day;

gives character 
to the hours;

invites attention
through the ears;

increases interest
through the years.

©  2014  Richard Havenga

CLICK on photos to enlarge.

Photo Locations: 

1. Indigo Bunting - Egypt Valley State Game Area,  Kent County,  Michigan

2. Bobolink - Allegan State Game Area,  Allegan County, Michigan

3. Common Yellowthroat - Wabasis Lake Park,  Kent County,  Michigan

4. Wood Thrush - Home Woods -  Cannonsburg,  Michigan

CLICK the links below to hear the Songs and Calls from Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

1. Indigo Bunting

2. Bobolink

3. Common Yellowthroat

4. Wood Thrush

Blue Flag

a blue flag unfurls

thriving in this lush wetland

popping out of green

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Wild Iris / Blue Flag - Iris versicolor

Photo Location:  Kent County,  Michigan 

The Circle

Winter's barren branches.

Versus summer's green boughs.

The various circumstances
the flow of seasons allows.

New life in the spring.

Then dying in the fall.

The endless circle of life carries
miraculous journeys for all.

©  2014  Richard Havenga

1. White Oak - Quercus alba - Kent County,  Michigan
2. Red Oaks - Quercus rubra - Wabasis Lake Park (Wabasis) - Kent County,  Michigan
3. Bur Oak - Quercus macrocarpa - Lowell,  (Lowell)  Michigan
4. White Pines - Pinus strobis -Lilley Lake,  Michigan
5. Flowering Dogwood - Cornus florida Ada, (Ada)  Michigan
6. Trembling Poplar/Quaking Aspen - Populus tremuloides - Kent County,  Michigan
7. Sugar Maple - Acer saccharum - Townsend Park, (Townsend) - Kent County,  Michigan
8. Red Oaks & Sugar Maples - Wabasis Lake Park, Kent County,  Michigan