Pearls

 

A gauze of fog

softens the dawn.

Microscopic droplets

collect on the web.

Threads of silk.

Strings of pearls.

Making the invisible

visible.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

Oxbow Bend ~ Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Teton Twilight

After an extraordinary day

of watching Pronghorns

scramble through sagebrush flats,

of observing bull Moose

browsing willow shrubs

along the Snake River,

of examining Elk

grazing grasses

along the forest edge,

twilight arrives in the Tetons.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 4. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

3. Telluride, Colorado

Diminished

 

Oxbow, my friend,

I have traveled far 

to visit you

several times over the years.

Your vast, blue skies

spattered with small clouds,

reflected in the Snake River,

have energized me in the past.

Your pelicans, cormorants,

eagles, mergansers,

moose and river otters,

have enlivened my days.

Your Grand Teton outlines,

always spectacular and dramatic,

have inspired my soul,

enriched my mind.

This past summer,

a summer of smoke and haze,

I suffer for you;

for the visibility lost,

for the grandeur

of the Grand Tetons

diminished.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, 3, & 4. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Sing of the Wilderness

Colors awaken with the dawn.
Morning sunlight sweeps
the canopy of trees
above the Snake River.

I want my words
to sing of the wilderness.

To share with you
new things to love
about the world. 

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River Overlook ~ Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Oxbow Bend - Snake River ~ Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Silent Towers

Rooted in the solid earth,
nourished by mineralized soil,
stretching for the sun's light,

prayers of gratitude
rise from arms
raised toward Heaven.

Such satisfying work.

God, please grant me
the perseverance 
of these trees;
these silent towers
of praise.

Until 
after that final,
wonder-filled journey,

I shall be 
in the light.

And understand
the mystery.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

2. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Into Daylight

The faint, pink flush
growing on the horizon
of morning
draws me outside.

High in the Red Oaks,
crows are squabbling,
intermittently,
in the growing light.

Morning has broken,
and birdsong builds
into choirs of praise.

I can scarcely
take it in.

I want to absorb
my surroundings;
these vibrant birds,

this morning sky
holding the gibbous moon
that is fading into the day's light.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park 

2. Home Woods

3. Goodwillie Environmental School - Forest Hills Public Schools - Ada, Michigan

4. Earth

Whisper II

God whispers to me everyday
through his magnificent creation.
I whisper "Thank you God!"
in a sincere voice of elation.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: 

Whisper - March 2, 2015

I Whisper - September 3, 2015

Prayers of Gratitude - June 10, 2012

Photo Location:

Oxbow Bend - Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Gift of Days

God,
we have nothing
to give you
but praise
for what you
give us
this day...

our gift of days
that displays

these samples
and examples

of your grand creation
to stimulate our imagination,

to grow our admiration
in a place for meditation.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming 

opening

riding the raft of sleep
into the pearly light of dawn,
being introduced and welcomed
to this fresh new day...

hope rising with the sun
eyelids opening to 
the opening of this day
to the opening door

the tender opening leaves
of American Beech
the soft opening petals
of Round-leaved Hepatica

dew pearls strung 
along a geometry of silk
at the opening of morning
evaporating with time

the mind opening
to imagine
the heart
opening to display
gratitude for this day.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 4. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming 

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

3. Townsend Park  - Kent County, Michigan

John Ruskin

"Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life,

and every setting sun be to you as its close."

— John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Photo Locations: 

1. Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, (Teton)  Wyoming (Wyoming) 

2. Bozeman, (MSU) Montana (Montana) 

Fishin' Buddies?

(Click on photo to enlarge)

White Pelican
floating high,
boasting buoyancy,
scooping fish while
power paddling upstream.

Cormorant
mostly submerged,
diving with ease,
an underwater arrow,
a fishing spear.

Big bird bothered
by persistent,
pursuing diver.
Cooperation, competition,
or Fishin' Buddies ?

©  2012  Richard Havenga

American White Pelican - (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

Length: 62" (157 cm)

Wingspan: 108" - 8 - 9.5 ' ( 244 - 290 cm)


Double-crested Cormorant - (Phalacrocorax auritus)

Length: 32 - 33" (81 - 84 cm)

Wingspan: 52" (130 cm)




Photo Location: Snake River, Grand Teton (Teton) National Park, Wyoming (Wyoming)