Roberta Writes – d’Verse & W3, Sunday Stills and CFFC

#CFFC, #d'Verse, photography, poetry, Sunday Stills, W3 2 Minutes

Bjorn’s d’Verse challenge is to write above a pilgrimage. You can join in here: https://dversepoets.com/2026/09/22/poetics-pilgrimage-revisiting-your-journey/

Heather’s W3 challenge this week is to write an ode to something in nature. You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2026/09/23/w3-prompt-230-weave-written-weekly/

The two challenges fitted together naturally for me this week.

Ode to a Giraffe

My spirit rejoices, sense of well being restored

Enthusiasm, returning as though never misplaced

Patience a virtue that brings its own reward

Anxiety and stress with peacefulness replaced

I bask in the liquid depths of your calm gaze

Silent queen who uses her voice so rarely

Chewing thoughtfully as if

Viewing life through a rose coloured haze

How I wish I could see the world so clearly

Instead, change has always scared me stiff

***

Oh, that I could derive such simple pleasure

From the action of consuming my daily bread

Absorbing the sun’s warmth as golden treasure

Grateful for nature’s bounty that keep’s me fed

Your gentle expression and swaying grace

Neck swinging in rhythm with your amble

Unworried and totally at ease

In you, trouble and strife find no place

Watching you, my thoughts unscramble

Floating away on grace’s mellow breeze

***

Within the borders of this manmade sanctuary

You are free to follow your natural instincts

No familial burdens to make you weary

Societal expectations, wordless but succinct

Within the boundaries you are free to roam

Unimpeded by responsibilities choker chain

That always pulls me up short

Despite the fact we ultimately walk alone

It is necessary for us to share other’s pain

Obligation and duty not easy to thwart

***

Your environment artificially maintained

By humans who are deemed more intelligent

Yet, it seems our hands and feet are chained

To the way of life that’s our inheritance

I seek out your environment as my escape

From a frantic world spinning ever faster

Core central pillar

Pivotal in the wild and untamed landscape

My soul temporarily heals, avoiding disaster

Nature acts as my life’s tiller

Sunday Stills and CFFC

Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge is animals with antlers, horns and hooves. I am featuring the giraffe that inspired my poem above. Giraffes have hooves. Giraffes do not have horns. They have ossicones which are horn-like, skin-and-fur-covered bone structures on top of a their head’s that develop from hardened cartilage. You can join in here: http://secondwindleisure.com/2026/09/20/sunday-stills-animal-of-the-month-antlers-horns-and-hooves/

Dan’s challenge is where/what/when we vacation. Naturally, I mainly vacation in the bush either at a safari lodge or some other facility that is close to animals and nature. You can join in Dan’s challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/09/21/where-what-when-we-vacation-cffc/

Isn’t this just the most beautiful giraffe you ever saw?

This is a portrait photograph of the same giraffe. These photographs were taken at Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in South Africa.

This photograph is of TC and I celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary at Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in February this year. There is a herd of elephants in the background.

The above photograph is of a Cape buffalo. Cape buffalo have large, heavy horns that typically curve downward and then sweep upward. In mature Cape buffalo bulls, the bases of the horns fuse together across the forehead to form a heavy, hard bone shield called a “boss”.

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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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68 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – d’Verse & W3, Sunday Stills and CFFC”

  13. Wonderful d’verse. I love your animal photos. Giraffes are so interesting. I would not want to mess with Señor Cap buffalo.

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  16. Contrasting the calm, unburdened rhythm of the giraffe with our frantic human world is so moving! As rothpoetry and Liz Gauffreau noted in the comments, drawing those parallel experiences really highlights the healing power of time in the wild. Happy 25th Anniversary to you and TC—what a stunning place to celebrate!

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  17. Robbie, what a beautiful giraffe! I especially enjoyed the way your poem captures her calm presence and gentle movements. There is something wonderful about watching animals simply go about their lives, reminding us to slow down and appreciate the natural world. Your photograph captures that beautifully.

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  21. I love giraffes. I recently read a commentary from someone watching a herd of sheep where the narrator was saying much the same thing about human life vs sheep life. It’s hard for a human to be present the way other creatures can. (K)

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  25. While I would enjoy some time out in the giraffe’s natural environment I think I’d also feel pretty anxious too.
    Giraffes are kind of inelegant and graceful at the same time.
    It’s a shame we can’t integrate ourselves better with the natural world around us.

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  30. How wonderful, this ode to a giraffe. I was imagining if that were me, to have the grace I felt your words presented. I have to say that the shots with the eyes of the giraffe and the buffalo went straight to my heart. The one of you and TC made me smile.

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