Sunny Side

morning sunlight—
mountain ash berries glow
blood red

On the radio, Louis Armstrong's raspy voice croons: "Leave your worries on the doorstep, life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street."

Downstairs, on my side of the street, my daughter is caught up in a smoker's hacking cough.

"I just have a cold, dad," she said a week ago.

Louis sings on: "I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade ... " It's a live recording, clapping in the background, the audience buying into the song's mellow mood.

staccato coughing fit—
I switch to a blues station

Does she believe herself? HIV positive, the cigarettes lower her resistance, make an AIDS response more likely.

my daughter's blood—
the sunny side of the street
for a virus

published in Simply Haiku