A Thousand Bee Stings
I smell her smiling breath:
‘I’m going to hurt you now, slave – with my whip!
Soon you will feel the pain of a thousand bee stings!’
She steps back.
A swish! A crack!
I feel her leather wrap around my ribs.
And pain – the pain of a thousand bee stings!
I pray. I yell.
I go to a hell,
Of infinite pain
Where the bee stings again.
And again! And again!