Live video has changed my daily life so very much. I feel like I am present everywhere in the world, maybe even next door.
tear-filled eyes…
Al W Gallia 2022
an Ukrainian mother pleads
from the world’s far side
The reality of distance and time still does not prevent my emotional response Perhaps some of you may experience the same? Prayers for those suffering is what I can offer.
I shake my head sadly at our fumbling politicians and ‘leaders’. It is so obvious that their left hands have no idea what their right hands are doing. And they have no desire to compromise toward America’s center. It is only about power and control, not America’s welfare.
3rd Covid year…
Al W Gallia
as politicians deflect blame
old couples lock hands
In the solitude and peace of our home, our safe escape pod in this latest Covid surge, I thank God again for my faith, my wife, and our health. Amen.
My friends…many of the haiku I am prompted to write arise from visual experiences as my wife, Bobbie, and I travel in our motorhome RV. If we see something special and meaningful while I drive, she takes photos! Posts like this are collaborative, with a bit of embellishment on my part, and works well for us! Her capture of this old tree along the roadside was my prompt in this haiku/haiga/haibun. Thanks, sweetheart..
Thunder slowly rolls into the distance after the cold rain storm. The old tree never wavered but held its ground as it has for over a hundred years. Water dribbles down its remaining bark, winding through old ridges and crevices and onto the anthill below. A crow circles the tree once and flies on. Somewhere across the field, a cow moos.
storm clouds pass…
a woodpecker’s head
in a dripping hole
©Al W Gallia
I pull back my rain hood, breathe the fresh, crisp air, and walk out from the dilapidated cow shed toward my grandparent’s house across the field. From their chimney, the north wind carries the aroma of woodsmoke and bacon! Picking up my pace, I have a happy “thank you, Lord” in my heart.
the old limbless tree
warms in bright winter sun…
woodsmoke on the breeze
©Al W Gallia
A perfect autumn afternoon at Lake Martin, a short drive from home. The kind of day that brings a smile to my face, even when no one else is around, and chases stress and concern quickly away with beautiful earth-tones, stillness, and reflections, and life’s chorus.
a young gator waits
in dappled autumn sun
the frog moves closer
Al W Gallia
I treasure my time in Nature’s solitude; it is my direct channel to meditation and prayer where God is always present. Blessings and peace.
A tinge of autumn in the air this morning! How delightful! The Indian Summer days following will be filled with subtle color changes and countless dragonflies. I love the feel of this season…it promises a rebirth of Joie de vivre if we are just patient and have faith.
swaying cypress moss…
countless dragonflies flitting
over the lilies
©️Al W Gallia
You are made of almost nothing
But of enough
To be great eyes
And diaphanous double vans;
To be ceaseless movement,
Unending hunger
Grappling love...
Excerpt from 'The Dragonfly' by Louise Bogan
Blessings and peace, my friends
America’s good people, those individuals that simply want the freedom to pray, learn, work, love, and raise families, need God’s intervention and help to straighten our road again. We must pray 24/7 that He will forgive us and teach us to forgive, compromise, work together, and live peaceably again.
around the world
churches filled with masked people…
quiet murmur of prayers
Al W Gallia 2021-08-09
Blessings and peace, my friends.
Nothing is more peaceful in the summer than a cypress swamp in the dead heat of day. The stillness is broken only by cicadas harmonizing, peepers chirping, and occasional egrets calling. Nature’s pungent perfume wafts on a random light breeze that gently moves a few lily pads. Sweat drips from my brow onto my camera. I love it! okay
in the duckweed
a gator’s eye twitches…
foraging wood ducks
©️Al W Gallia 2021
Thank you, Lord, for this moment of your peace in our troubled world.
It is the 2nd Lenten season during this worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, in which we are struggling to survive. Do we actually think that we can succeed, as ‘one nation under God’, without Him, by continuing to turn away from Him in our lives? I think not, as faith and prayer are the true way and God is the source of all love, goodness and hope.
morning fog lifts…
the scent of coffee rises
with his prayers
©Al W Gallia 2021
Consider these verses from Jeremiah 17: 5-10:
Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
who makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the wasteland
that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in lava beds in the wilderness,
a land, salty and uninhabited.
Blessed are those who trust in the LORD;
the LORD will be their trust.
They are like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It does not fear heat when it comes,
its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still produces fruit.
More tortuous than anything is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the LORD, explore the mind
and test the heart,
Giving to all according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their deeds.
Spring has sprung here in south Louisiana and it is so welcome! As I walk along the gravel road bordering the cypress filled Lake Martin, almost every step exposes another sign of new life! My camera stays at the ready as my eyes search out Mother Nature’s fresh tidbits of color and textures. Wildflowers with their faces turned sunward, greening trees and lotus pads, the calls of nesting egrets and herons, a sunning alligator, and smell of bedding fish overwhelm my senses. Thank you, Lord, for this day!
spring morning…
flooding the cypress swamp
sunlight and birdsong
©️Al W Gallia 2021
The first snowfall in a late autumn woodlands is a glorious sight! Almost a cleansing of the year’s trials and pains as translucent whiteness slowly overlays the remaining leaves, branches, and grasses.
first snowfall
a white blanket adorned
with reds and golds
©️Al W Gallia 2021
Standing alone amidst this wonderland, I can only marvel at one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind: nature’s beauty. I hear only the faint, pervasive sounds of falling snow, and raising my face to heaven, say “thank you, Lord!”
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