The Redundancy of a Cough

A cough rattles my chest
Its emphysemic redundancy keeps me awake
A gasping chest wishing for rest

The clock with its terrible ticking
Reminding me of what is being robbed
Minutes and hours of wanted sleep

Illness made its visit upon me
With its gift of fever and discomfort
A guest I would have turned from my door

I can not wait to slam the door in the face of sickness
To see it leave with a command to never return
But for now I lie in cough’s clutch praying for it to end