Essence

"You whose essence is hidden while your gifts are manifest." ~ Rumi

Often overwhelmed

by your magnificent creation,

I seek the essence

of your presence in nature.

Amazed by the variety of life forms,

astonished by the miracles of growth,

I am filled with wonder

and blessed to be a witness,

as I try to express my gratitude 

to our Creator.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Balloon Flower - Home Garden - Canonsburg, Michigan

2. Hummingbird Moth on Wild Phlox - Home Garden.

3. San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area - Sierra Vista - Arizona

4. Small Skipper on Vetch - Home Fields

 

Invisible Prayers

 

I know that prayers

are obviously invisible,

but I thought I saw some

rising and riding the wind;

to their anticipated location,

their appointed destination;

on the delicate wings

of a  Swallowtail Butterfly,

on the powerful wings

of a Bald Eagle,

on the net-veined wings

of a dragonfly,

on the fine, silky fibers

transporting milkweed seeds,

on the white, billowed cumulus

towering into the atmosphere.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: "Prayer Beads" from June 15, 2023

There are 44 references to Prayer in the TOPICS section of WWFN. 

Photo Locations:

1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Eagle Lakes Park - Naples, Florida

3. & 4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. North Fort Myers, Florida 

Gracious

 

I pray

that my poems

will express

what I'm trying to say.

And not fly around erratically

like a Painted Lady butterfly,

or like  Little Brown Bats

darting and diving in the dusk.

I would prefer

that my poems

rise softly, subtly,

and surely, like the dawn.

Then illuminate

my readers

like the morning light

on jeweled prisms of dew.

And in the reading

perhaps feel my hand

on your shoulder

offering encouragement.

And know that

I want to share 

my feelings of  gratitude

with you.

For one of the gifts

of the writer,

is the presence

of a gracious reader.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Scales

 

Has anyone ever witnessed

the precise second

when a microscopic scale

falls from a butterfly's wing,

because it brushed lightly

on the petal of a flower?

One minute scale among 

tens of thousands,

layered in layers,

flashing their colors,

reflecting the light.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Viceroy - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Meadow Fritillary - Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Tiger Swallowtail - Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Small Things

 

Small things collected

from ordinary days:

The lavender softness

of Wild Geraniums

unfurling their

five-petaled dresses.

The exuberant call

of the first

Brown Thrasher

in mid-spring.

Fresh fawns

standing still

as statues

in deep grass.

Red Oak buds

becoming baby leaves

misted with

morning dew.

A delicate blossom

of Mayapple nodding

from the forked stem

below umbrella leaves.

The common 

Cabbage Butterfly

resting on tender petals

of Sulfur Cinquefoil.

The gradual pinking

of evening light

reflected on the slow

flowing Grand River.

The anticipated arrival

of familiar constellations;

especially Orion

and his girlfriend Cassiopeia.

Magnificent things collected

from extraordinary days.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Wild Geranium - Home Woods

2. Brown Thrasher - Home Woods

3. White-tailed Deer Fawns - Home Woods

4. "Baby" Red Oak leaves - Home Woods

5. Mayapple blossom - Home Woods

6. Cabbage Butterfly & Sulfur Cinquefoil - Home Fields

7. Grand River - Plainfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

8. Orion - Catalina, Arizona

Supplemental Grace

Beauty in nature is not essential.
It is grace supplemented by the Creator.

Are the intricate patterns 
and complex functions
that we witness necessary?

Have you examined, close-up:

The design of a flower's inflorescence?

The veins in a dragonfly's wings?

The barbs and barbules in a bird's feathers?

The minuscule scales of a butterfly's wings?

Beauty in nature is not essential,

but I am grateful every time 

I witness these gifts of creation.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Cannon Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve - Fort Meyers, Florida

4. Vergennes Township - Kent County - Michigan

5. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Effect of Angels

Although I know
from a lifetime of prayer,
that everywhere I go
you will be there;

guiding me
every step of the way
along the path;

sometimes it feels 
as if this life
is as predictable
as the flight
of a butterfly,

as mysterious
as the effect of angels.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. Home Fields/Home Gardens - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Art Prize Grand Rapids - 2013

Still 2

I still cultivate the curiosity
that carried me through childhood.

Eyes still filled with
wonder and astonishment. 

Heart still filled with
gratitude for all creation.

Soul still filled with
creativity from the Holy Spirit.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Prothonotary Warbler - Kalamazoo River - Michigan

2. Caterpillar of Monarch Butterfly ~ Luton Park - Rockford, Michigan

3. Bull Elk in the velvet ~ Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

4. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

The Shape of the Gift

God is an artist.
Has created all I see.

He sends his messages.
I pray for receptivity.

Open to his influence,
I'm eager for possibility.

In this gallery of awareness,
I wait patiently.

Nourished by the Spirit,
I try to imagine
the shape of the gift,






















and how to open it
with gratitude,
and proper humility.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photography © by Richard Havenga

1. American Lotus ~ Nelumbo lutea

2. Buttonbush ~ Cephalanthus occidentalis

3. Gladiolus ~ species

4. Sunflower ~ species

5. Sulphur Cinquefoil ~ Potentilla recta

Water Love

Soft as a butterfly's touch
on a flower petal,

the evening calm
whispered to the water,

then a gentle rain kissed her skin;
the smooth, dark silk of the lake. 

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:  Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado 

I Whisper

I am paying close attention
to the living reality
surrounding me outdoors.

I am focused intently,
drawn into the science,
pulled into the mystery;

I am amazed by the intricacies of nature,
fascinated by the complex details,
astounded by how it all works.

For each miracle I witness,
for each poem I write,
for each photograph I capture,

I whisper 
into the air:
"Thank you God!"

After the gathering
of memories, words, and images,
it is always the gratitude that remains.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

This Day, This Way

This day,
this moment,
in this place;
has never happened before,
and never will again,
in this particular way.

This butterfly alighting
and brightening the meadow.

This damselfly's
presence and iridescence.

The sublime design
on this moth's wings.

The firefly lifting, drifting,
and disappearing. 

Nature's rhythms 
released.

God's blessings 
increased.

This day, 
this invitation
to stay, and 
give back 
the quiet gift
of gratitude.

This way.

2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pink-edged Sulphur - Colias pelidne - Townsend Park - Kent County, Michigan

2. Black-winged Damselfly - Calopteryx maculata - Fallasburg Park - Kent County, Michigan

3. Leconte's Haploa - Haploa lecontei - Lowell Township - Kent County, Michigan

delicate touch

landing on a shelf

of pastel yellow petals,

delicate meets soft

© 2015 Richard  Havenga

Rough-fruited Cinquefoil - Potentilla recta

Cabbage White - Pieris rapae


Photo Location: Lowell Township - Kent County, Michigan

page thirteen

This poem was written July 17, 1992, outside our family tent, at Interlochen State Park, (Duck Lake Campground) in northern Michigan.


Little brown butterfly,
you've landed on page thirteen
of the book I'm reading
to warm your wings
in the morning sunlight.

First your right side,
and then your left.
Slanting and tilting
to keep your wings
perpendicular
to the warming rays.

I slowly slant and tilt
the page you've clung to,
to test your sensitivity.
You adjust your stance.
The experiment works.

You start to walk
over the words:
"Lake Michigan".
You have now entered
this short story* I'm reading;
become a new character.

Stepping over a few sentences
down to the next paragraph,
you pause on the words:
"butterflies migrate".

Then you take flight.

©  1992, 2013 - Richard Havenga

*Short Story: "The Way A Woman Thinks" from collection: Grass Fires - Dan Gerber © 1989