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

 

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

 

Singing to the Sky

 

A small Canyon Wren

is singing to the big sky.

One long song

woven into the western air.

Singing with exuberance,

a sacred sound cascading down.

Clear notes bursting

from this small brown bird.

Ascending, descending,

echoing off smooth rock walls.

I hold my breath, close my eyes,

feel blessed to be a witness.

Years later it lingers

in the canyons of my memory.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, Colorado

Canyon Prayer

 

When the Canyon Wren

hurls its song into the air,

in the echoing space

between sandstone walls,

it sounds like a prayer,

a praise song,

a blessing heard

but not seen.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Garden of the Gods Park - Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Steeple of St. Patrick's

The congregation of devoted Christians 

filled this historic church.

They sang with exuberant voices,

exalting His name with praise.

Their passionate faith was unmistakeable

by any visitors who sat in the pews.

The majestic steeple of St. Patrick's

transported our praise and our prayers

through the blue vault of the sky

toward their heavenly destination.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: St. Patrick's Catholic Church ~ Parnell, Michigan

You may also enjoy:

"The Bells of St. Patrick's" - May 14, 2015

"The Steps of St. Patrick's" - November 6, 2017

"The Windows of St. Patrick's" - September 17, 2018

 

Banner of Song

 

Across this broad field of sage,

a Western Meadowlark is perched;

on a fencepost, on a barbed wire.

From this distance

I can barely make out

his sunrise-yellow breast

with the black tie

pointing down his neck.

I delight in his melodious call,

streaming over the plains;

a long banner of song

curling into the warm wind.

This gift of music,

given by the meadowlark,

received with gratitude.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Hesperus, Colorado

Elegant Gown

 

Through the dense green foliage

of my Red Oak woods,

at first I cannot spot

the Scarlet Tanager

as he unravels his song,

then my eyes are carried 

up into the canopy

of glossy leaves

where he sings his song

of short phrases

alternating high and low.

A performance that will last

through the dense green summer,

when I'll be privileged to get

a few, brief glimpses of

his elegant gown;

splendid elements

of black and scarlet red.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Scarlet Tanager Song: 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Scarlet_Tanager/sounds

Photo Locations: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

gone

time moved on and on 

but he never learned her song

and now she is gone

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

First Breath of Morning

 

Filaments of song

are strung along

the strands 

of spider silk.

Can you possibly imagine

the sound it creates

when the first breath of morning

plays its strings like a harp?

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary - Naples, Florida

Wind Song

 

The wind,

growing in the needles

of the White Pine,

amplifies its voice

from a whisper

to a song.

A canticle carried

softly into my mind

on invisible currents.

A woodwind section

playing ambiance

in the upper branches.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Woods - Kent County - Michigan

Drink the Air

The mellow melody

from the mouth

of the meadowlark

rolls across the fields.

A banner of song

curling in the wind.

It targets my listening,

enters my heart,

amplifies my awareness,

enhances my gratitude,

sings to my soul.

Makes the world

a better place.

Makes me want to

drink the air.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Marvel, Colorado

3. Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area - McNeal, Arizona

Joyful Song

The sweet syllables
of a Song Sparrow
pulled my attention
away from myself;

awakened my awareness,
focused my eyes and ears
on the sight and sound
of this little brown bird;

proclaiming his joyful song,
touching my heart and soul.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Cannonsburg State Game Area - Kent County - Michigan

2. Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

Sound of the Gift

Listen

to the long, curling
banner of song
streaming 
from the meadowlark
above these rolling hills,
and rising up,
as far as I know,
into the open gates
of Heaven.

The sound of the gift
giving gratitude
to the giver.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. (Eastern Meadowlark) Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. (Western Meadowlark) Marvel, Colorado

Baptized

Silent as seeds
from the soil,
words emerge;

baptized
like a sacrament,

inside the soothing song
of this soft spring rain.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Lake Music

Listen
to the song
of these soft 
summer showers.

Can you hear
the lake
make music 
with the rain?

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake Park ~ Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Rainsong

Words emerge,
silent as seeds

germinating
from fertile soil.

Baptized
like a sacrament

inside the song
of this soft spring rain.

Stirring new life
into hibernating senses.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Amboy, Illinois

2. Kent County, Michigan

3. Alamosa, Colorado

4. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Singing Branches

The leaves on the branches
are singing with the wind.

The bluebirds on the branches
are singing their dedicated songs.

The poem 
I wanted to write
never got started
for all the singing 
from the branches. 

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:  Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

The Vault

for Michelle Ogren - Music Director at St. Patrick Church 


As we sing and exalt His name with praise,
may song illuminate our precious days.

May song echo through the vault of our skies
and reach its goal: be pleasing in God's eyes.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park ~ Wyoming  

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Holy Dimension

The cascading call
of the Canyon Wren

kept urging my words
to form into lines
to echo the sound;

but the clear notes
bursting
from this small brown bird,

at first suspended,
then falling through
the shapeless air,

were so pure,
so full of grace;

it was impossible
to transcribe his song,
sung from the echoing space
of clear canyon air,

onto these pages;
flat, white,
and hungry for words,

impossible to honor
this holy dimension.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Play the call of the Canyon Wren from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Photo Location:

Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, Colorado