Yellow Braids

 

Yellow braids

of Weeping Willow.

Supple and flexible,

collect soft spring light.

A welcome sight

after a rigid winter.

Tender twigs,

slim and slender.

A sensuous dance

with warm April air.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

 Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Plainfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Thornapple River - Ada Dam, Ada, Michigan

Winter Angels

 

In this forgotten cropfield

that once grew soybeans,

it's a day in late winter,

still below freezing,

with a trace of snow remaining.

Sandhill Cranes toss stems and leaves.

With the slightest wing thrust

they rise effortlessly

eight feet up, then settle down

like winter angels.

They dance and call

and flare their wings

and toss and dance

and wait for spring.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Underwings

 

When a small chevron of geese

flies very low overhead,

just clearing the reach of trees,

with the late, lowering sun

golden on their underwings;

it makes my heart dance,

and makes my soul sing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - San Antonio, New Mexico

2. Home Skies - Cannonsburg, Michigan

walking on water

 

walking on water

Buffleheads perform fast dance

leave their liquid tracks

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

New Connection

 

Listen to the whispered conversations

from the ambitious autumn leaves

as they prepare for departure

from their green summer home.

Letting go 

with faith

for the future.

A brief, graceful

dance with gravity,

then a new connection

with the nurturing earth.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

plains dance

 gray curtain descends

low cloud releases its rain

dances across plains

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Monte Vista, Colorado

Dancing Light

The slant of sunlight
is caressing
the surface of the stream;

this film of wavering water
dancing with liquid light,
reflects upward, 

shimmering the undersides of leaves,
reaching out like warm hands
just above the cold current.

Captured by this dance
of light and water,
I cannot turn away.

Must stay:
to feel 
what the Spirit is sharing,

to learn the language,
to translate the dance
into words.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

You may also enjoy: "Dawn's Early Light III" ~ October 25, 2013

Ballet Beneath the Stars

She was hoping the clouds would clear,
was waiting for darkness to arrive.

Waiting for the stars to begin
their silent, distant dance.

Ready to begin her own alone dance,
to the silent music playing in her head;

with no one in the universe watching,
except, perhaps, her guardian angels.

Under this glittering galaxy,
a ballet beneath the stars.

Grace and gratitude.
Close enough to feel.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Art Prize ~ 2013 -Grand Rapids, Michigan

2. Orion ~ from Catalina, Arizona 

Still

Do you still listen
to the rain
like you did
as a child?

Does it still dance
upon the water,
shout on the streets,
sing through the trees?

Have you listened lately?

We can still live our lives
as if everything spoke to us.

Walk out into this new day,
or into the dark, still night;
then stop.
Look.
Listen.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park / Meijer Nature Preserve Kent County, Michigan 

Surrendering

Only yesterday
these leaves
danced on
slender petioles.

Caressed
by the wind,
nourished
by the twigs.

Now, the slow grip
of frost
presses upon
dying leaves.

Their short lives
spent, fallen,
surrendering
to the season.

©  2013  Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy "The Last Dance" - October 7, 2013 

Photo Locations:

1. Wabasis Lake Park, (Wabasis) Kent County, Michigan 

2. Home Land,  Cannonsburg,  (Cannonsburg)  Michigan

3. Townsend Park, (Townsend) Kent County, Michigan 

Leaf Identification: 

1. Trembling Poplar - Populus tremuloides 

2. Norway Maple - Acer platanoides

3. Red Oak - Quercus rubra

The Promise III

Milkweed seeds
suspended
from fine, 
silvery threads.

Parachutes of promise
in an aerial dance
to a destination
unknown.

Unknown,
even by the wind
that carries
them.

The promise was made
for a chance
to live life,
to give life.

The opportunity
to accept,
and possibly
sacrifice.

©  2014  Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy:

The Promise - May 19, 2013

The Promise II - July 2, 2014

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 5. Grand River Nature Area  (GRNA)  Ada/Cascade Townships,  Kent County,  Michigan

3. Lafayette, (Lafayette) Colorado

4. Cannonsburg State Game Area, (Cannonsburg) Kent County, Michigan

Slow Dance

When night fell,
the clouds withdrew,
like a curtain 
opening on a dark stage.

After midnight,
I took my place,
to watch
the silent performance.

Intermittently,
Perseus streaked
through the scene.
Each time a quick surprise.

While white stars
continued
their slow dance
across the black sky...

to the music of
universal silence. 

©  2014  Richard Havenga

The Approach

night is approaching,

wants to ask dusk for a dance;

she is not ready

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Hatchet,  Wyoming  (looking west to the Grand Tetons)

A Small Act

arching out from
the tip of a twig,
on winged samaras,
future seeds wait;
small packets of hope
suspended within 
this tranquil moment.

dangling here,
collecting light,
this profusion of life,
bursting like pink fireworks,
this performance of maples,
a small act within
this repeated play,

where God is
producing and directing
the extravagance of spring.

squinting, I see
pairs of wings,
clusters of angels,
ready to dance
in the next
breath of a breeze.

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Red Maple - Acer rubrum

Photo Location:  Mom's Farm 

The Last Dance

Listen to the leaves landing.
Soft as pages turning.

Each leaf,
after a brief
dance with gravity,
falls with grace
to meet its shadow.

The last dance.
The last page.

 

©  2013  Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Fallasburg Park,  (Fallasburg)  Lowell, (Lowell)  Michigan (Michigan)


Sugar Maple - Acer saccharinum