There was a bee
That nestled in my hair
I had no idea that this little bee
Was there.

And I heard the buzzing
Which became home to me
We built our lives together
This little bee and me.

The comfort of the sound
Blocked everything else around
The buzz, buzz, buzz,
Everything lost, now found.

I’d sit and tell stories
Talking to this voice that sang in my ear
Little bee told me there was nothing
In this world to fear but me.

Then one morning as I awoke
I asked little bee a question
And he never spoke
The buzzing in my ear
Was no longer there.

I felt a pain in my neck
And as I moved my hair to see
Swollen marks, 1, 2, 3,
Little bee had bitten me.

Wondering what I had done wrong
I looked for where little bee
Could have gone.

There, little bee lied
On the windowsill
Next to my bedside
Little bee was gasping for air
With some white liquid
Pooling around him there.

I scooped up little bee
Hoping he’d now speak to me
“Please, I need your buzzing to keep me sane,”
I plea.

Little bee looked up at me
His little eyes crying “I’m sorry”
Pulling back my hair once more
At these marks that should hurt
I see the same white liquid leaking from my pores.

As the buzz, buzz, buzz slowly ceased
I wiped the liquid from my face
Sending it to a lab
To see why it caused little bee to now be dead.

The results came back within a week
From my pores, it was poison that leaked.

-Rachel Allen