Dame Nellie the Nightingale, a diva of note

Woke up one day with an awful sore throat.

"What on earth shall I do?" she croaked to her mate,

I'm signed up tonight on a big singing date.

The tickets are sold and the orchestra's booked,

If I duck out of this, that's my goose really cooked."

She tried cod liver oil and a Fisherman's Friend

And some pastilles and linctus without seeing an end

To the setback a nightingale always most fears,

Which is to sound off one night like a van changing gears.

As showtime approached things looked utterly dire

With Nellie no nearer night's heavenly choir.

But with darkness approaching her mate grabbed his coat -

"I'm off to the doc's and I'll be back with a note!"