Isopod

Whimsy and delight wrapped neatly into a ball

Segmented body perfectly shaped

for

playing

games

Armored, but fragile

Wrapped up tight

Nothing can make it in but

Something bigger will crush

Your fourteen legs working hard

Carrying you slowly around the underside of a leaf

Picked up

Picked off

Thrown carelessly by a child

Roly poly's, pill bugs, woodlice - whatever you call these, they are crustaceans, not insects. I think we English speakers very much missed the mark by failing to call them ball-crabs.