TWO COUGHS
The little boy won’t stop coughing
All night it wracks his tiny body
like a drummer rehearsing
in a small room
& now as if by magic
it splits into
two coughs
You who have had children
know one
You who spend their lives on high alert
for any chirp of distress
whose body is attuned to those alarms
& feels them almost as if they were
happening to you & even when your child
calls long distance you do not miss
that careful little catch that means
someone has gotten inside them
& is turning something sharp
How do we stop this dread
this looking over edges
This knowledge we cannot spare them
& finally this listening
That is one cough
The rest of you will only hear
a memory
You may think Poor Kid
What did he have?
Upper respiratory?
Pneumonia?
But you will never follow that
hook sound into the dark
sit on the small bed
hold the soggy hot child
like a ticking bomb
who coughs & sees your face
& croaks Don’t worry
It will stop