Time Again

 

I'm taking time, again,

to examine small moments.

Appreciating the fragments

that comprise a fulfilling day.

Bluebirds in the background,

sharing their liquid song

as I weed the perennial garden

below their conversation.

These isolated streaks

of high cirrus clouds

becoming white feathers

brushing the morning sky.

A sudden burst of wind

that releases and carries

a mass of autumn leaves

tumbling and turning with gravity.

Taking time again, to recall

memory's precious treasures.

All those yesterdays giving birth to today

with confident hope for tomorrow.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan

 

Sun Play

 

Sun plays with the clouds,

splashing dramatic light

through the lovely morning sky,

captivating your sight.

Sending rays of hope

from heaven to earth,

and you're out here

getting your minute's worth.

© 2026 Richard Havenga 

Photo Locations:

1. Loveland, Colorado

2. Saguache, Colorado

Words of Promise

 

I'm back here again

in my window chair,

trying to grow my morning poems;

some words of promise

on sunlight yellow paper.

Always praying for

a shower of inspiration,

just a sprinkle of imagination,

an aspiring germination

to grow into creation.

With roots probing

into the fertile soil,

absorbing nourishment,

seeking a firm foundation

in the beloved earth.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Library - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Quiet Hope

 

My words do not

crash from the clouds

and rumble like thunder

echoing in the atmosphere.

My words arrive silently;

like the sound of petals

curling open to reveal

the essence of the flower.

Like the soundless rise

of the morning sun

birthing a new day

with the soft music of poetry.

Silent treasures

brought into the light of today.

Carrying the quiet hope

of one more tomorrow.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. Balloon Flower -Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

 

Gold and Silver

 

Dawn is a gift,

given to you

every day.

A gift you can open

each morning

you find yourself alive.

A new day,

golden with opportunity,

silver with possibility.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Lowell Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

alpaca

 

good morning to you

time to eat some tasty grass

from my green pastures

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grand Traverse County - Michigan

The Sun Has Warmed the Way

 

I spend the early morning hours

pulling poems into creation.

They arrive quietly,

and the poems that cooperate,

I massage into meaning. 

Hoping for spiritual significance

to become visible

between the words.

Like the purity of petals

on the spring-blooming Bloodroot

when the venous leaf

unfolds its grip

because the sun

has warmed the way.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Silver With Possibility

An hour before dawn,

we were packing to leave

on a long road trip.

A cold and silent morning.

The sky was still dark

and strewn with stars.

As we got on the road,

we saw a faint brightening

on the eastern horizon.

And this new day

slowly opened around us,

silver with possibility

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Ghosted

 

This tall cottonwood

rises above the frozen lake.

Frosted by winter fog.

Ghosted by morning light.

Astonishing my sensitivity. 

Dazzling  my grateful eyes.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

Morning Hours

As the autumn sun is rising,

often crimson or golden,

I'm in my writing chair

in our cozy library,

looking out the window

for new ideas, for a few

words to come together.

These few, precious hours

allow me to observe the way

the American Beech leaves

first begin to shuffle,

or the way the ambitious wind

tears the remaining  leaves

from these broad White Oaks.

Most days, these morning hours

are fruitful and fulfilling,

and I am grateful

for the enrichment

as I press pen to page,

collecting fragments;

finding my poetry.

© 2024 Richaard Havenga

My Yellow Woods

 

The lower October sun

slants warm rays

onto the golden-leaved ground

in our morning woods.

I can see farther

into the woods

now that half the leaves

have fallen.

Wild Turkeys are

racing then walking

then squawking to each other,

scurrying from my sight.

Now, except for

a White-breasted Nuthatch

making its nasal call,

all is quiet in my yellow woods.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Weaving Daylight

 

They're created overnight,

in the calm darkness,

these exquisite orbs of silk.

Concentric circles

strengthened by 

radiating strands.

A spectrum of rainbowed streaks

shimmering in the morning sun.

Arachne weaving daylight.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve Estero, Florida

2. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Each Day II

 

Each morning opens the day

with an invitation.

Each evening closes the day

with appreciation.

Each day is an opportunity

to say a prayer of gratitude

to God who numbers our days

and calms our restless hearts.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: "Each Day" ~ July 22, 2021 

Photo Locations:

1. Nanoose Bay - British Columbia - Canada

2. Buena Vista, Colorado

Now

 

This new day dawning

is ours to cherish now.

A Mourning Dove's soft syllables

are drifting down from the spruce.

Light fog is being nudged off the lake

by a gentle morning breeze.

Along arching stems, Bleeding Hearts

are dangling pink valentines.

Afternoon cumulus are forming, 

growing, bulging into blue skies.

 A soft summer sun is settling into

Lake Michigan's broad horizon.

These words are finding 

their own trail across the page.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Canon Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Parnell, Michigan

4. Grand Haven State Park - Michigan 

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

"I Am Here"

While walking these rolling foothills,

ribbons of wind caress my face.

Morning light illuminates the

expansive dimensions of clouds.

Sunshine warms the cinnamon bark

of sturdy Ponderosa Pines.

My eyes are captivated by

vibrant wildflowers at my feet.

I inhale the 

masculine scent of sage.

My hearing is alerted by

small segments of birdsong.

As I continue on this path,

God says: "I am here."

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 6. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

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

5. Goodwillie Environmental School - Ada, Michigan

Essence of Summer

 

I step onto the deck

this fine July morning

and a Carolina Wren

fills my ears with its

repertoire of joyful song.

Then on the front porch

the air is infused 

with the unforgettable

fragrance of Phlox.

Tall towers of Hollyhocks

stretch for the sun;

their cups of color

flaring like small trumpets.

Heavy humidity creates

brilliant diamonds of dew

clinging to blades of grass

that dazzle in the early sun.

Lovely, lavender Balloon Flowers

burst into five pointed petals

revealing a network

of deep purple veins.

From the field to our east,

the well-known scent

of fresh-cut hay

drying in windrows.

With senses alert,

I am blessed in this place,

absorbing the sensuous

essence of summer.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve - Fort Myers, Florida

2. 3. 4. & 5. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

6. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan