The Sting

I was a child at the time
Playing in the playground one day
So long ago
Twirling in circles with hands above head
Barefoot and careless until
The moment I looked down
Before I stepped on a bee
Then I stepped on the bee
Before I could tell my foot not to
Then the bee stung the ball of my left foot
Immediately delivering a venom
Evil apitoxin, into the area
Then it began
The dendrite of a sensory neuron
of the First Order, with afferent properties,
and a member of the somatic division of the
Peripheral division of the
Nervous System,
And who lay right underneath the skin of the
ball of my toe became alarmed by the
intrusion of the barbed stinger
and the apitoxin so atrocious
The dendrite spoke to his master, Soma
Who immediately relayed a message
To his knight errant Axon
Because of myelinated coverage,
the best insurance no doubt
Axon was able to carry the message
ionically, electrically, all the way
through the White Matter to the
H of the Gray Matter, briefly pausing at
Tibial Spinal Nerve at Junction S2
Then, boom, into the Information Highway
of the Spinal Cord and the Central Nervous System,
Jumping a synapse onto an interneuron
of the Second Order,
located within the Ascending Tract
Gracile Fasciculus, to be exact
so fast and furious, lightning like
The signal climbed until it hit
Gracile Nucleus within Medulla Oblongata
Pyramids all around, up and down
Then there was a decussation of sorts
And a leap into the empyrean
of the Cerebral Cortex on the right side
of my little boy brain
Onto a neuron of the Third Order
Then an identification, analysis, processing
Process began
After the nature of the intrusion had been
fully ascertained, a decision was made
This involved mild pain, nothing serious
But a bit shocking, and certainly
A lift of the left foot proper
would be required
The minutes were recorded
Then an available Motor Neuron
of the Upper sort with Efferent properties
was commandeered with the response
He sent the current message down
his lengthy and trustworthy Axon
diving through Medulla Oblongata
Crossing the Abyss, re-decussation
to the Left side sinister
sliding in freefall down the primary cord
of the CNS along the Descending
Lateral Reticulospinal Tract back down to
the S2 connection
The exit leap was made onto a
Motor Neuron of the lower sort
(with Efferent properties of course)
From there the end was in site
The message was conveyed
"Ouch!" I said,
and lifted my foot up off of the bee.

Then I saw the bee, cringing
Beneath me on the ground

This abomination first traveled from a
neuron belonging to
the Special Fiber sort
in the back of my eyeball
a special code flew down the axon
Into and through the pearly White Matter
Into and through the H of
the Gray Matter so dull,
leaping across a junction at C2
and directly into the brainstem
to the cerebral cortex
The horrific knowledge, the fright,
was absorbed by my ego
Then my brain spoke with a Motor neuron
about possibilities
They agreed and a chain reaction of
neurotransmission began
This time it wasn't electrical
It was chemical
The message was sent to
Adrenal Medulla
Who then began to release
Norepinephrine in a most adrenergic way
Along the Autonomic Nervous System
A chain reaction ensued
When this bad boy reached my bloodstream
It caused my heart to speed up,
to race in fact

It was the knowledge of the sting
Not the pain
Actually, I thought it was going to hurt
More than it did.
But I still cried.