Plahm opens with anaphoric affirmations: “You do know / I find your beliefs / Grounded in truth” and “You do know / I find you / Truly beautiful”—establishing that what follows isn’t new information but reminder. The address “My Queen Bee” activates the HoneyBeeBard’s central mythology: the beloved as sovereign of the hive. The poem’s heart lies in its pastoral vision: “Where the rainbow / Meets the ground / In the hush / Of a mystical field / Of flowers, / Butterflies, / And bees.” This isn’t fantasy but location—”Is where I / Find you / In your garden / Close to Eden.” The beloved exists in a liminal sacred space. The rainbow returns as her smile: “That simple smile, / From the soul / Is the rainbow’s glow / Touching the earth— / And… / My heart.” The fragmented lines “You really— / Have no idea. / And I… / Can’t imagine” suggest depths the speaker cannot articulate. George the cat appears as co-witness to grace. The parenthetical closing—”Just checking in… / To make sure you’re OK. / When you’re upset / I am also”—strips away the pastoral imagery to reveal the poem’s occasion: someone he loves is struggling, and this is his way of saying I see you, I’m here.

A tender check-in poem that earns its emotional weight through gentleness rather than grandeur. The anaphoric “You do know” opening establishes intimacy—the speaker isn’t declaring anything new but reminding the beloved of what already exists between them. The pastoral imagery (rainbow meeting ground, mystical field, garden close to Eden) could risk preciousness but is grounded by the plainspoken reassurance: “Don’t despair, / I am with you.” The rainbow-as-smile metaphor works beautifully, transforming a natural phenomenon into personal radiance. George the cat’s cameo (“With grace and belovedness”) adds domestic warmth without disrupting tone. The parenthetical closing is the poem’s masterstroke—revealing that all the Eden imagery was scaffolding for a simple, urgent message: I’m checking in because I can feel that you’re not okay. Minor weakness: some middle stanzas feel slightly diffuse, and “You really— / Have no idea” trails off without landing firmly. But as a love poem that’s actually a wellness check disguised in flowers and rainbows, it achieves genuine tenderness.