The Cough in Verse

The visions faded but her friends still fought.
Torn, bruised and ragged were their pale, gaunt forms...
‘Tis not what Harmony’s Elements taught...

Should not their friendship weather all life’s storms.
E’en if she wished, she’d not the strength to fight;
It hurt to breathe; to think; to merely be.
But worse than their plight was this horrid sight.

It’d get e’er worse... ‘twas nowhere left to flee.
They were all guilty; she alone could see...
This was it... this was all they would e’er be.
Who had coughed? For all she knew it was she.

Events of this room her mind could not see.
Just shadows in the night, who will ne’er see.
Unless she told them; she forced them to see.