Rising at 3 a.m.

 

I didn't know the moon

was right there, right then;

until the obscuring cloud

drifted to the east.

This was my greeting

through the bedroom window.

Waning, and rising

at three a.m.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Peshawbestown

 

Vines climbed the side of the barn.

Not the broadside, but on the south.

Mostly Virginia Creeper leaves

with a few Wild Grapes entwined.

It was late September

near Peshawbestown. 

And as I took the photo,

I thought about the old windows.

The history behind the frames.

The mystery behind the glass.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Peshawbestown, Michigan

Summer Theatre

 

He sat close to the window;

writing, and watching summer mature.

As the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

zipped and sipped at the feeders and flowers.

And the Sandhill Cranes

yodeled from nearby wetlands.

As the White Water Lilies

floated their purity upon the lake.

And White-tailed Deer raised

another generation of fawns.

As wheat, stretching straight and tall,

ripened green to gold in dense rows.

And fireflies flashed green-yellow lights

in the silky dusk of evening.

As frequent thundershowers

kept the heartland green.

And the window to his world offered

daily scenes of summer theatre.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Feeders

2. McCarthy Lake

3. McCarthy Lake

4. Home Fields

5. Home Fields

6. Home Woods

7. Home Fields

Night Rhythms

 

After evening tree shadows lengthened,

and dusk overcame the daylight,

crickets and katydids

began their night rhythms.

Through the screens

of our bedroom window,

I listened to the soothing music

playing a late summer song,

and roamed into a deep forest of sleep.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Deck ~ Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Home Woods ~ Cannonsburg, Michigan

Windows

In memory of Peter Draugalis Sr. (June 29, 1895 ~ September 10, 1959)

When I was eleven,
my upstairs bedroom was small,
but my responsibility was large.

I had to pray hard every day
for the cancer to go away
from my grandpa,
who had to go away
to a special hospital
in Ann Arbor
for those mysterious
cobalt treatments. 

He had no windows
in his hospital room.
I didn't think this was fair
for a man who loved
to be outdoors,
for a man who loved
to hunt and fish,

for a man I loved
when he let me hunt
between himself and my dad.

They would send me
into brush piles,
down the swales,
through briers and brambles.

If I "jumped a rabbit",
one of them would fire his shotgun.
Grandpa carried a 20-gauge.
Dad had the stronger 12-gauge.

I longed to hear that gunshot
again in October;
only a month away.

As I stared out my window,
I studied the east fencerow,
tangled with thick brush;
sumac and saplings
hung with wild grapevines,
maybe a rabbit hiding
in the dense briers that
curled along the ground.

I watched out my window
as dusk arrived.
I listened out my window
as a whip-poor-will
sang his melancholy song.

I prayed out my window:
"Please God, give Grandpa
a little more time."

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Endnote: 

Today, in my upstairs bedroom, I have two shotguns: a 12 gauge, and a 20 gauge.

The Windows of St Patrick's

While sitting in the wooden pews,
in our beautiful country church,
with the windows open to summer,

I can see fields of corn and soybeans;
rows of apple trees rolling up the hills;
the pastor's stone house built in 1910.

When the sun shines through in any season,
the stained glass windows come alive with color,
bring Bible stories alive for the congregation. 

The wedding at Cana.

The birth of Christ.

Jesus enters our hearts.

His body and blood;

available as we share the bread and wine. 

The Bread

The Wine

We witness his birth.

We witness his death. 

His Resurrection. 

We accept the Holy Spirit living within us.

Focus on the meaning of the crucifix.

You may also enjoy:

 "The Bells of St. Patrick's" ~ May 14, 2015
"The Steps of St. Patrick's" ~ November 6, 2017


Photo Locations:

St. Patrick's Church of Parnell & Rectory

* All photos © Richard Havenga