Does this post-nasal drip portend a cold?
(The kids I hug have recently been well.)
Or could it be the start of Covid’s hold?
(I’m negative but it’s too soon to tell.)
I woke at 3 to feeling choked with phlegm,
and didn’t screen a dream till 5 a.m.
And I was hale and hearty yesterday –
a harbinger, sometimes, of health’s decay…

I have a theory, and I hope it’s right.
I’m clearly senior now, reacting more
profoundly to the garden pollens, spore
and dust. It’s not so odd to wake at night
when one has lived 10 years beyond three score.
I’ll nasal rinse. I’m really not that sore.