Haiku for the week

Winter's last surprise?

Or spring's first emissary?

From nowhere, 'flu strikes.

Man, this is a nasty one, debilitating. For the past 36 hours I've had so much headache, muscle pain, fever, and lassitude that I've barely been able to drag myself out of bed.

I had something similar round about the time of the start of the SARS outbreak (partly psychosomatic?). And, these days, when you get something like this, you can't help wondering if it's the 'Spanish Influenza v. 2.0', the nightmare avian/human crossover virus that's going to spark a global pandemic.

My illness in May 2003 proved not to be so serious, and blew over in 3 or 4 days. I hope this one will do likewise. Feeling very poorly at the moment.