“…the 29-year-old and her doctor were horrified to discover
four bees living under her eyelids, feasting on her tears.”
—The Guardian, 10 April 2019 

The salt their nectar.
Your sorrow and ocular muscles
they chew and spit out
as honeycomb,
as wax, as candle-source
and sweetener. 

Imagine that,
all your pain transformed
into the sweetest sweetener
one knows,
a spoonful to hide medicine,
a spoonful to make hot tea
a firework on your tongue,
a spoonful to soothe
someone’s suffering. 

All you have to do:
let the bee, the light-jacketed
employee of the department
of pain transformation
suck and eat and suck away
your human sight.