WHIMSY
the madrigal, volume iii
Nightcap
by d.w. evans
A small honey bee revels past bedtime
drunk on the pollen of a fading sunflower.
I would revive the roistering fellow
with a spoon of sugar syrup.
Each time I try this trick they drown
like Clarence tipped in malmsey.
I leave it be on this bountiful plateau,
happy as a monk swimming backstroke
in a lake of golden mead.
DW Evans was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and now lives and works in Jersey. He won the Alan Jones Memorial Prize 2019 and in 2020, he was shortlisted in Ó Bhéal’s Five Words (2020 and 2021), and received highly commended in Acumen’s first international competition 2020. His poems have appeared in the Frogmore Papers, Proverse Mingled Voices, Best New British & Irish Poets 2019 -2021 (Black Spring Press), Lucent Dreaming, Bindweed, A3 Review, The Madrigal – volume 2, and later this year The Honest Ulsterman, Epoch and Driech’s Pop anthology.