Hell Freezing Over

This first hell I know.

This is the hell of that worst stubbed toe,

Of not seeing the drawer before standing up,

In my case, of toes thawing after coming inside

My choice of footwear lying suspect through the

steady stream of curses.

I get to experience this most acute, painful hell,

Freezing over, thawing begun.

It's hell because it's the worst pain you can know,

maybe not every time, but you've felt it.

At some point the body is overwhelmed,

No more pain can reach it.

Torturers have to know this.

The goal is perfect pain, not lights out,

After all.

To wish this hell on another,

...Almost certainly evil.

It's an inevitable experience,

perhaps even an important one,

from which future joy shines brighter.

But to wish it, the torture of another human,

Barring context, what a sure evil.

This smallest evil,

On which all the other greater evils are built.