Watercolor Dreams

 

After a full day of spring Birding,

of looking through binoculars,

and reading field guides,

birds fly through the

watercolor of my dreams.

I awake the next morning,

eager with anticipation,

to see the next new migrants,

perhaps a "life-lister" species.

Mid-May in Michigan.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Scarlet Tanager ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Northern Oriole ~ Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Prothonotary Warbler ~ Allegan State Game Area - Allegn, Michigan

Gathering Words

Like a Pileated Woodpecker
probing for insects and larvae
beneath the brittle bark;
I gather a few words
from my walk in the woods.

Discovered in the praying hands
of young Shagbark Hickory leaves;
opening, unfolding,
giving praise
to the Creator.

Uncovered in the pure radiance
of a Mayapple flower;
a small, white crown of purity
hidden under green umbrellas
close to the ground.

Recovered from the
sharp, clear whistle
of a brilliant Northern Oriole
returned on his first day,
newly returned in early May.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 6 Mile Cypress Slough - Fort Meyers, Florida

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

The Orchardist

He looks over the old,
abandoned orchard;
rows of overgrown apple trees,
their gangly branches
arching to touch 
other trees' branches,
crammed with vertical suckers,
unpruned for twenty years,
leaves of apple trees
still breathing the air.

Outer twigs on the fringe
still producing sparse blossoms
of pinkish-white,
still carrying their sweet fragrance, 
the signature of spring,
to the old orchardist,
recalling the promise;

memory an overcast dream
now fringed with loss.

A Brown Thrasher serenades
from the dense inner leaves,
an oriole calls from high
on a dead branch,
honeybees still visit for pollen.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Come September,
blemished and shriveled apples
will ornament these old branches,

will still be found
by climbing raccoons;
opossums, deer, even foxes
may eat of the fallen fruit

and enjoy it with wild abandon,
not noticing the imperfections
of these small, wrinkled apples,
or the absence of the old orchardist.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

Vergennes Township, Kent County, Michigan