Say that I live in South Carolina, a little white cottage,
with T. Ray––daddy never fit him––and Rosaleen, basically my mother.

Tell them when the bees arrive, I am elated,
all my worries gone, vanished as if there were never any.

Say that my favorite foods are honey cakes,
only the ones made by May.

Mention that I never really fit in,
always alone,
a mouse slinking in the corner,
trying not to get stepped on.

When you write my story,
tell them the bees saved me,
now I am whole.


(Written from the point of view of Lily Owens, the narrator and protagonist in “The Secret Life of Bees”)