Wren’s Nest

A twitch of moss
in the drystone’s battered face

hint of fidget
in a soft-mouthed cave

a sudden squirt
from an inch-wide perfect circle

sooty brown
like stumbling on a puff-ball.

Particles of wren
too quick to count, too many

plump as chocolate truffles
insubstantial as fritillaries

diffusing: burrs on thistle mast
fluff in the bramble mattress.

Ian Royce Chamberlain