For decades every cold progressed the same –
Day 1 dry throat, and then a load of snot,
resulting in a lasting cough, with name

bronchitis (wracking, shuddering I got
and even hurt my torso once or twice),
but I was younger then and smoked a lot.

I gave tobacco up. I paid a price
but now I get a cold with little cough.
And when I get infected it’s not nice

how long it takes to blossom and move off.
A week of drier throat it seems to bring,
for even stagnant water in a trough

is ever changing, just like everything
around me, be it virus, be it me.
At last incessant sneezing and a sting

of moving phlegm and stuck mucosity
besets me, and I weary all too fast.
There’s diminution in my energy.

And now I wonder how long this will last,
if this is just a cold in fact to blame.
Or am I by some other ill harassed?