On 28 March 2006, the World Health Organization Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, comprising 41 national and international organisations, was launched in Beijing. In 2005, four million people died of chronic respiratory diseases, and chronic obstructive lung disease is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease accounts for about 7% of the total burden of illness in Australia.

I’ve come to visit him

in his garb of house arrest —

flannelette pyjamas from Kmart —

he stands, greets me, hitches up his pants,

exhausted, sits and speaks in tiny bursts:

“Today
is a
good
day!
This
morning
I could
do up
my buttons
without
getting
too much
out of
breath!”

Each night the moon drags the tide

an inch closer to the shore.

Each day he cuts and glues

balsa to shape model ships,

perhaps today a papyrus raft

to bear the brief message of his soul.

He drove trucks for years,

smoked, took dex and Coke

for extra miles,

and now sniffs oxy

for the loo.

He’s my age:

The front door prison grille swings shut.

I wave goodbye

for both of us.