Zoo Flu Poem by C Richard Miles

My giraffe has a cough;
He's a pain in the neck
And till he shrugs it off
I'm a real nervous wreck

For I've used up my bedding
To wrap round his throat
And tonight I am heading
To sleep under a coat.

From my head to my toes
I'll be starting to freeze
With the breeze that he blows
When he sets off a sneeze.

I am under a curse,
Since it's worse, I can tell,
I've an elephant to nurse
Who has earache as well.

I'll not sleep till the morning
As I tend to their woes
And the elephant's warning
He's an itch in his nose

And he's starting to flap
From his head to his tail
I'm a tolerant chap
But I'm getting a gale

From both sides of the zoo
As the animals fret
Since the beasts have caught flu
And I'm vexed, as their vet.

Yet it's not quite as bad
As I peer through the dark
For just last week I had
To pull teeth from the shark!