"Drinking the Bees" — A New Poem by Christian Wiman

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As if in

moments lay

plummets

down which a puttering soul

might stunningly plunge

to a sun-splashed terrace

in Marrakesh:

tea so thick with

mint it conjures

kelp

in a cylinder of sea

but for the bees

gauzing the top:

and the man my guide

so unperturbed

he seems to sip

from very fur

serene even as

one

clings to his

beard and peers

with its tiny interstellar

eyes and fuzzed Confucian

face

so near the lips

it could be the bee’s

boisterous bonhomie

urging Drink, lad,

drink

before I blink

back to

Hamden

with a permanent

thirst and the sting of

dreams.

____________________________

Excerpted from The Dance by Christian Wiman. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, July 2026. Copyright © 2026 by Christian Wiman. All rights reserved.