Consolation of Rivers

 

I am immensely comforted

by the consolation of rivers.

Wild water flowing freely.

Rapids cradled between mountains.

Water rushing with gravity,

bashing broad boulders

to create whitewater rapids

that pound on my ear drums.

Rivers carrying time,

endlessly into the future.

Washing my words

with exhilaration.

The current singing

the song of my life.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. North Fork Payette River - Idaho

2. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

3. Gibbon Falls - Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming

 

Opening Doors

Let me

open the door for you;

and together,

with me here in the present,

and you out there

in the future,

we can communicate

and appreciate

the beauty of nature;

God's magnificent creation,

as we sail

through our separate

and sublime

seasons of life.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. St. Elmo, Colorado

2. DuBois, Wyoming

3. Fountain, Colorado

Mood of Gratitude

 

The evening sky is being brushed

by the subtle grays of dusk.

Tints of lavender paint the clouds.

Warm pinks reflect on the river.

A comforting mood of gratitude

for another  good day of life.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grand River - Grand Rapids, Michigan

You may also enjoy another Gratitude poem: "Reaching" ~ July 13, 2025.

Solvitur Ambulando

 

When the tensions of your life,

and the troubles of our world

begin to overwhelm your mind

and dominate your thoughts,

stop the mental talk

and take a long, brisk walk.

Solvitur ambulando*

It can be solved while walking.

*St. Augustine

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Glacier National Park - Montana

2. Great Sand Dunes National Park - Colorado

Circling

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

Pure joy

radiates from his face

at age four, as he spins

in his circle of life.

Making a small, round wave

in Lake Michigan

that still reaches me,

still touches me.

I've been circling 

for decades

into the future

without him.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Pentwater State Park - Pentwater, Michigan

Photo by Mary Havenga © 1979

 

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

Evidence

 

As we advance along

our daily pursuit of life,

our recent past becomes

a long wake behind us.

Hopefully leaving evidence

of the compassionate  service

we've performed for others.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Persevere

 

Like rain falling

onto the lake's surface;

whether soft and gentle,

or hard and harsh;

we absorb

what life brings us

and are grateful for the grace

to carry on, to persevere.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Song of Our Lives

 

The river of time flows endlessly,

carries the song of our lives in our place.

Will you sing of the blessings

you've been granted through grace?

Will the list be so long

that your complaining is replaced

with gratitude for life, and 

precious time in your space?

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Columbia River - Hood River, Oregon

3. & 4. Grand River - Kent County - Michigan

Worthy

 

Harvesting these

seasons of the year,

the years of this life.

Standing at the edge of time,

watching the broad horizon,

grateful for abundant blessings.

Seeking deeper spiritual perception

by listening for the voice of God

in the wind, in the waves.

Praying for inspiration

from the Holy Spirit

to make these words

worthy to be read.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Acadia, Michigan

2. & 3. Grand Haven State Park - Grand Haven, Michigan

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

The Weight

for Tom T.

The slow weight of these summer days

is not what you expected to carry.

Just as you retired, that

cruel "C" has invaded your space.

The dreams you realized, up in the U.P.,

have begun to materialize

in that remote cabin in the woods,

improved by your skilled hands.

The slow wait of chemo will interfere,

but will restore you, just like the new leaves

that regenerate and expand every spring;

you, too will emerge from this diagnosis

with a renewed mission to remodel

your cabin and resume your life,

when the bright light of hope

shines again through your trees.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Credits: Carol Theoret  ~ (near Munising, Michigan)

Temple of Trees

 

While walking within

this temple of trees,

I stop and stand;

astonished among these

copper-colored steeples

that stand like monuments

reaching into the blue skies

of Colorado and Montana.

Ponderosa Pines,

perhaps a century old,

stand in solemn splendor

as I inhale the essence

of their vanilla-honey aroma

emitted from the sun-warmed bark.

I resume my walk

through these pillars of strength,

over the foothills

scattered with Ponderosa,

through the seasons of my life,

always grateful to enter

this temple of trees. 

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Hamilton, Montana

2. 3. & 4. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Revisions

 

I've lived this life I'm in

through a series of decisions

and multiple revisions.

There have been thousands

of interesting interactions

and some savory satisfactions.

It's grace that's travelled

with me as I roam,

and grace will lead me home.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Centennial, Wyoming

2. Home - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Rushing

 

Like a fast mountain stream

plunging past boulders,

the current of time

is rushing through my life.

To slow down time,

I sit on a boulder,

breathing slowly, deeply;

open to possibilities.

After some patient waiting

under the shade of pine and spruce,

an American Dipper suddenly appears.

While slipping into the current,

it captured larvae

from underwater rocks.

Now it's ready to serve them to its young,

hidden in a globular nest of bronze moss,

anchored upon a wet boulder

in the middle of this

fast mountain stream

rushing through my life.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Taylor River (Lodgepole Campground) - Almont, Colorado

Each Day

During the long list of days

that has made up your life,

have you noticed how each one

opens differently?

And how each day's close

is never the same?

No matter the number of days

you have accumulated,

each dawn and sunrise

should be a surprise.

Every dusk after sunset

should leave no regret.

Cloud formations grow then dissolve,

changing by the minute.

The water in the mountain stream today

is not the same as yesterday.

This week's wildflowers will be dying

when next week's  begin to blossom.

And the birds?

Each and every day of their short lives,

they unravel their sweet songs,

and live.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Telluride, Colorado

2. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Goodwillie Environmental School - Ada Township - Kent County - 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

Accepting

Extending from rigid
willow branches,
flexible yellow braids
bend in the breeze,
curve in the current;
yielding, yet resilient. 

Supple as slow thought.
Accepting what is  given.
Anticipating what is to come:

from the wind in the willows,
from the rapids in the river,
from the surprises in life.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Big Crooked Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Leslie E. Tassell Park - Cascade Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Thornapple River - Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michgan