Ode to a Cough
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Ahem!

Oh cough, that small expression of relief
an echo of congestion in the throat.
A hack, ahem, that passes through our teeth
Emotion swells a lump that I may choke.
What calls thy siren to my attention?
A blockage thus, of phlegm, a chesty rasp,
or narrowing of passage void of breath.
The air about you holds itself agasp
I fear you are brought into contention
and brought about a certain kind of dearth.

A cuckoo lays an egg within your nest
and harbours you a master of disguise.
You tickle and tease, leaving me to guess
the nature of your lyrical reprise
To fear or not I ask you to discern.
They flee, they flee, at what you may become.
Such power, I can only show respect,
lying low, to elude your stealthy roam.
Who are thee to show such little concern,
to all the lives you wittingly infect?

Your path floats on an air of discernment,
moving forward a mutant in our midst
that begs me to doff my hat, your servant
and smell the poisoned scent that you have kissed.
Are you thus a never-ending terror?
What distance do you give for me to make?
Will your repertoire ever be enough?
The future holds such chances there to take.
I cannot hide my face from you forever
because sometimes we cough, sometimes we cough.