Little Johnny Brown is back again today
He’s got a nasty cough that’s just not gone away
He gets it every winter, ‘I know the type’, Mum says
‘Without the antibiotics, it will go on for days!
‘We’ve tried the eucalyptus, the salts and the balm,
‘They haven’t really done much else apart from keep him calm
‘He doesn’t like the Calpol, the Nurofen’s too sweet
‘Can’t you give him something tastier, so it seems more like a treat?’
‘He’s been off school all week with this, which isn’t great you see,
‘Mum’s paid for clubs he should attend – judo, chess and archery.’
He is not sounding very chesty, and doesn’t look too bad.
But Mum is still insistent, ‘it’s the worst he’s ever had’.
‘You’ve got to get him better doc, there’s another thing as well,
‘We’ve booked a flight to South of France, a villa in Marseille.
‘If the cough won’t get any better, it’s not much fun for him
‘He’ll be kept indoors for most of it and certainly can’t swim.’
‘As the helpful Pharmacist downstairs has already agreed,
‘A prescription for the antibiotics is what he really needs.
‘The adverts on the telly keep mentioning this too –
“Any cough that’s gone on all this time is more than just the ’flu”.
‘So, if you’ll do the needful doc, and give us what we like,
We’ll be on our way directly and tell the Pharmacist she was right!’
Dr Sadiya Ayaz is a GP in south-west London
