Category: Handicap

Do Dung Beetles Worry?

On By Al W GalliaIn dung beetle, Haibun, Haiku, Handicap, Nature, Uncategorized3 Comments

Watching a dung beetle scrambling to gather food for his family and clan. In the hot afternoon sun he is tireless in maneuvering and rolling the growing ball toward his nest at the edge of the feed lot.

castle bellowing
the dung beetle about home
his ordeal ending

Al W Gallia

His trail winds across the sand and sage brush, around obstacles like rocks and rusty farm implements. But he never loses his way or appears tired, always pushing, pulling without a rest. A survival and work ethic we humans need to recapture!

cattle corral…
by the crushed dung ball
a black beetle leg

Al W Gallia

In response to Your Daily Word Prompt: Ordeal

Haiku: Picking Up the Gauntlet

On By Al W GalliaIn Aging, Faith, Haibun, Haiku, Handicap, Illness, Senryu, Uncategorized2 Comments

In the physical therapist’s waiting room, an elderly woman leans on her walker, her arthritic hands unable to grasp it securely. 

hot afternoon…
old woman pushes her walker
humming a gospel hymn
©️Al W Gallia

Yet her eyes sparkle with life as she smiles and greets others in the room. In her eyes I sense no despair, but only acceptance of her suffering and the ‘joie de vivre’ her Christian faith gives her. When called, still smiling as a saint, she pushes her way through the door. My prayers follow her.

leaning on his cane
he looks up the rocky trail…
the evergreens beckon
Al W Gallia