Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Poem by Daya Nandan

i started my first puff when i was fourteen,
After class hours in the school canteen,
And from then cigarettes became my new friend,
And my addiction for it seemed it would never end,

And decades later here i am now in the hospital bed,
breathless, coughing up phlegm, i rather be dead,
I can't speak too much, i can barely move,
Diagnosed with COPD that cannot improve,

My chest is inflated like a balloon by trapped air,
A hunger for oxygen within that i cannot bare,
Pursed lip breathing and bulging jugular veins,
Edema on both legs, cursed by my diseased chains,

Drugged with bronchodialators and corticosteroids too often,
Growing weaker daily as my voice starts to soften,
I cant spend time with my family, i am stuck in bed,
With only thoughts of regret going through my head,

I want my life back, i want my family and friends,
I want to turn back time and throw the cigarettes in my hands
I regret smoking so much, that was my biggest mistake,
And now i feel like a man partially drowning in a giant lake,