i (nearly) met him by the swing set

there used to be a swing set here

it's gone now

lying somewhere broken like this tale

and i'm the one who sent it to its grave

as revenge

in light of it harboring Death

and pain

-that's the first thing i remember

stinging into the side of my neck

no matter how far i ran away from it

until i fell into the void

in and out

here and there

i hear a child screaming

but they are so far away

fading

fading

fadi-

suddenly speed

and rounding a corner

i giggle when the van tilts

didn't someone say mom shouldn't be speeding

***

people blur past me

as if this was a music video

and then i'm laying on a cloud

they tell me it's a bed

it takes watching a needle go in my arm

aren't i afraid of needles

for it to click in my sluggish brain that i'm in a hospital

***

black

i never understood black before that day

i always thought its eyes twinkled

until i stared into it and saw nothing at all

***

my mind is clear when i awaken

and sometimes i wish it wasn't

because it meant i understood the doctor

when he said i was millimeters from death

becoming the catalyst of my fear of something small

[hornets, hornets, yes they sting

and what an awful pain they bring]

***

thus ends the fractured tale

of how a hornet nearly became

a harbinger for Death