Distance

There are seventy-five years

of distance between me,

and the black and white photograph 

of a little boy on a rope swing.

My father, Richard,

made this rope swing;

tied to a high tree branch,

sturdy and strong like he was.

My mother, Lillian,

who took the photo in 1951,

said I was a shy and quiet little boy.

I would like to get

inside his head.

I would like 

to give him a push.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

Acceptance II

 

As time seems to accelerate

in these older years,

my attachment to life

has strengthened.

Of course there is

a sense of aching in my heart,

like things could start

to unravel in the next ten years.

However, at seventy-eight,

my current grip on life

feels firm and confident,

like when I'm lifting weights.

Or running wooded trails, or the beach.

Or playing tennis and pickleball.

Or swimming in the ocean.

Or hiking in the mountains.

Or photographing nature

all over this beautiful country.

Or Writing outdoors 

in numerous locations.

A working combination of

adaptability, and perseverance.

Acceptance and gratitude

for my abundant blessings.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: "Acceptance" - October 23, 2023

Photo Locations:

1. Canyonlands National Park - Utah

2. Kauapea Beach - Kauai, Hawaii (12-22-05)

3. Angels Landing Trail - Zion National Park - Utah

4. White Sands National Park - New Mexico

5. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Diminishing Dignity / A Touch of Grace

 In memory of Lillian Havenga: October 22, 2022 ~ September 2, 2021

For support while walking,

she leaned on the walls

of her dementia,

with small, shuffling steps.

Eventually, the walls

closed in around her,

until she no longer

felt stable when standing.

Lying on her back

in the narrow bed,

she hopes the ceiling

will hold back the walls.

She tries to accept

this next stage of life;

with diminishing dignity

and just a touch of grace.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

The Weight of Sorrow

 Aaron Havenga (April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994)

At first,

when it happened,

the weight was so heavy

I could not lift it

off my chest;

the way it pushed

on my heavy heart.

But after thirty years

I've learned how to carry

the weight of sorrow.

Although I've aged,

my strength is greater,

the burden feels lighter,

my faith shines brighter.

Nineteen years of love was not enough,

but we will be together again.

Love, Dad

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Ten Years from Today

 

If I live to be eighty-six,

or possibly beyond,

I often visualize

our only daughter Sarah,

when she comes to visit,

(who is a good writer),

offering to read to me

the poems I've written

in these later years of my life.

I'll listen to her soothing voice,

her natural intellect,

her excellent annunciation,

her perfect pronunciation,

and her musical mind

reading my words back to me.

I'll ask, "Did I write that?"

"Yes Daddy, when you were seventy-six."

Then she'll show me my photographs

that helped to illustrate my words.

Then she will say:

"This is good stuff Daddy.

You could still write poetry today."

And she'll hand me a pen and paper.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Ludington State Park - Michigan

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

My Middle Name

 

I'm seventy-five years old.

This is the middle

of the eighth decade

I've been blessed to live

on this beautiful earth.

The morning hours

of writing poetry

have been fulfilling and fruitful.

These past twelve years

passing too swiftly.

I am enriched every day

by observations of nature.

Grateful to God the Creator

for sensory awareness,

and for the freedom to explore. 

I am

accepting the past,

living in the present,

and anticipating the future

when I'll be running and writing.

My middle name is Gratitude.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Canyonlands National Park - Utah

2. Home Deck - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

3. Butonbush - Kent County - Michigan

4. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Path of Time

 

There are others

just ahead of me

on this path of time.

I observe them discreetly;

watching their gait,

their growing caution

with everyday movements.

Taking mental notes,

imagining myself

five or ten years older;

Will I still be running?

Will my mind be lucid?

My eyes strong enough to read?

This journey I am on,

no matter my age,

will always convey one

perennial theme:

Forever gratitude to God

for the incomparable

gift of life.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Castle Valley, Utah

2. West Elk Wilderness - Colorado

Assembled

This morning, every morning,

I anticipate

what the sky may bring.

How light, reflecting 

from assembled clouds,

will affect the day's personality.

These aging eyes

still viewing the world

like a curious child.

This old brain

trying to recall

the assembled memories.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Fields - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

1994

 

I've carried nineteen years of memories

for twenty-eight years.

Counting his beginning steps at six months,

then, as a toddler, his trusting little hand 

holding my finger as we walked outside together.

Playing in Lake Michigan

at four years old.

Soothing his hurts from early spills

on his bike at six years.

Estimating the length of the bass we caught

in the Grand River when he was fourteen.

Worrying the hours while waiting for him

to return home; driving at sixteen.

Timing the miles during Forest Hills Central 

Track and Cross Country meets at seventeen.

Calculating his climbs while hiking with Ross Peterson

on the Appalachian Trail at eighteen.

Crying the tears over his death

in November of nineteen ninety-four.

Saying the prayers at his gravestone

when I'm forty-six, or seventy-four.

Carrying years of memories up the slopes;

 memories as permanent as mountains.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

End Note: 

This year Aaron would be 47. Born on April 2, 1975.

I was 46 when he died at age 19, on November 20, 1994.

Photo Locations:

1. First Home - Cascade, Michigan - Photo by Mary Havenga

2. Lake Michigan - Charles Mears State Park - Pentwater, Michigan 

3. Mom & Dad's Farm - Ada, Michigan

4. East Grand Rapids

5. Appalachian Trail National Park  - Photo by Ross Peterson 

6. West Elk National Wilderness Area - Colorado

Currents

 

Age, a slow current

through my body.

Blood, a slow stream

through my vessels.

Hope, a steady flow

through my soul.

Honey Creek, a dark ribbon

weaving through white winter woods. 

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

Honey Creek - Seidman Park - Kent County - Michigan

Next Spring

 

How did you get to be seventy four?

You retired with some goals in mind,

and some of them were achieved.

What to do with all this

time

on your hands?

Embrace it.

Pursuing your passions:

Writing. Reading. Running. Nature Photography.

Spend your time outdoors.

Bring the outdoors inside

your poetry.

Next spring,

plant some trees and shrubs

that will outlive you.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods

2. Moab, Utah

3. Home Garden

At the Edge

As the smooth silk of dusk
approaches the edge of night,

music within the soft breeze
tapers into a quiet calm.

A time for contemplation
at the hard edge of old age.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Moran, Wyoming

2. Moran, Wyoming

3. Santa Catalina Mountains ~ Arizona

Tabernash

With gratitude to John D'Amico

How many hundreds
of thousands
of dark green spires 
of Lodgepole Pines
needle the sky
in this broad basin?

Highlighted by November snows,
they clothe the rising foothills,
stand perfectly vertical
on steepening slopes,
climb to the timberline
on North Arapaho Peak,
withstand winter winds,
remain ever
green.

Serve as models of perseverance
as we bend under life's strains,
lean into biting winds,
fade from once colorful selves. 

Yielding to the years,
weathering with grace,
faithful to the end.

Tapering, arrow straight
pointing to heaven
everlasting.

A thousand thousand
points of praise.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. - Tabernash, Colorado

Grateful Heart

With a grateful heart,
I have come here to rest,
and let my eyes adjust
to the future
coming at me
in this, my seventh
decade of life
on the good earth.

Balancing:
the desire to know,
and the need to praise;
I have become intimate
with some small pockets
of life on this planet;

nearly forty years
for the love of birds,

intrigued by the flow
of rivers and streams,

a lingering fascination 
with insects,

enchanted by the short seasons
of wildflowers,

a watcher of clouds
for decades,

a dedication
to dependable trees 
- familiar as friends -

and captivated by the
mysteries of the night sky.

How can I help but
praise you God,
for the gift of life,
and thank you
for my remaining days?

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Prothonotary Warbler - Allegan State Game Area- Kalamazoo River - Michigan

2. Crested Butte, Colorado  

3. Canon Township - Kent County, Michigan

4. Cardinal Flower - Ada Township - Kent County, Michigan

5. Yosemite National Park - California

6. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

7. Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan

8. Sunset Beach, North Carolina