Nestled Together

by bernadette gibson

A pair of snails roughly the same size,
spiralled shells blended rust with brown,
lie camouflaged within a crevice
of a dry-stone wall, fully retracted
into their shells, shielded from predators,
protected from sun, in the cool of the stones
they lie asleep, undisturbed waiting
for dusk to return.

When orange blaze of sun drops down,
and evening dew covers the ground,
the snails emerge from the crevice
moving slowly in the dark all over
the land, revealing sticky silver trails
that glisten in morning sunshine.