Watching and Waiting

 

I approach this mountain stream

with deep respect and admiration.

Walking upstream,

along the boulder-strewn bank,

accented with spruce

and Ponderosa Pines.

The sound of rushing water

is like a friend coming toward me;

it flows with companionship,

that I currently need more of.

I keep watching and waiting,

until it's time to move on.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Payette River - McCall, Idaho

2.  Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Driving

 In Memory of

 Aaron Havenga   April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994

Driving late at night,

still a long way

from our destination.

Very few cars

on this remote highway.

I'm playing

some of his favorite music

from the Grateful Dead

inside the warm cab of my pickup,

while driving through

the cool, Colorado rain. 

Driving into the future,

I feel like these headlights,

and even though I strive,

I cannot see everything

that may be out there.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Steamboat Springs, Colorado

2. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area - Utah

Temporary

Like the soft linen
of newly-formed clouds,
when I arrange words on a page,
I'm not always sure of the source.

I let them find each other,
and gather into tentative groups,
like the temporary lives 
of mountain wildflowers.

Perhaps my words will pulsate
with warmth inside your heart
like the brief  glow of evening
on a slow moving river.

Or, maybe fresh new words
will surprise the writer;
words hidden just beyond
the next bend in the road.

Or, the words could identify with
the feeling of acute awareness
that you notice when the wind
temporarily stops. 

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Tucson, Arizona

2. Columbine ~ Telluride, Colorado

3. Grand River - Grand Rapids, Michigan

4. Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Riding Clouds

Clumps of clouds
cling to to each other.
Mingle and merge
along their soft borders.
Drift en masse 
with atmospheric winds.

In my imagination,
I ride these clouds;
looking with admiration
at the green earth,
this familiar landscape,
and the geography of hope. 

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Canyon de Chelly National Monument - Arizona

2. Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

3. Bluff, Utah

Riversong

Assisted by gravity,
the fluid force
of this mountain stream
surges with conviction.

Flowing freely
between its banks;
fringed with firs
and spruce and pine.

Tanagers and warblers
sing by her side.
Dippers dip and plunge
in her current. 

This is where
I most belong.
Listening to
the riversong.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

2. Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

3. & 4. Taylor River - Almont, Colorado

dancing with the wind

thriving on the earth

grasses brush the summer breeze

dancing with the wind

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Book Rock

In Memory of Mary Oliver (1935 ~ 2019)

When I remove this special rock
from the shoulder of the mountain,

and during the descent,
feel its weight inside my pack,

I picture it displayed
on my library shelf.

Or,

I may use its weight to hold open
a book of poems I'm reading

by Mary Oliver, William Stafford, 
Jane Kenyon, Ted Kooser,
Luci Shaw, or Dan Gerber, ...

as I sit on the bank
of this rocky river,
thinking about its source.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Library - Cannonsburg, 

3. Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Reverence

Reverence comes over me
while sitting in deep silence
under the forest canopy.

Reverence flows through me
while watching
the river's steady current.

I inhale it with eyes closed
while standing in a 
wildflower meadow.

I absorb it
like the sounds of birdsong
becoming memories,

or when 
ribbons of wind
wrap around my ears.

I feel it surging
while walking barefoot
on ocean's sandy shore.

Reverence resides in my soul
when I'm a guest
in the mansion of mountains.

Even when I'm too old
to walk the shore,
to hike the trails,
and wander the meadows,

I will not lose
this sense of reverence,
because I carry it
inside my heart,
within my soul.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2.  Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

3. Along St. Mary's River - Glacier National Park - Montana 

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

5. Sunset Beach, North Carolina

6. Glacier National Park - Montana

Water Music

I am seeking meaning here,
trying to translate
the notes 
swirling over boulders,
tumbling over rocks,
splashing into the small hollows
that curve up into eddies. 

Upon further examination...

Music from this mountain stream
creates a constant chorus.
I place my hand into
the liquid vibration
to gather the sensation.

The water music 
plays my fingers.

Earth angels
begin to sing.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado 

2. "The Narrows" - Virgin River - Zion National Park, Utah 

3. East River - Gothic, Colorado