It may be a fever

The sort that makes you shiver

Or it may be a cough

With phlegm that’s bloody and tough

It may be diarrhoea

The sort that gives you a pain in the rear

Or it may be a headache

That’s a prelude to the heartache

It may be a rash

The sort that makes you scratch and curse

Or it may be the loss of weight

That precedes the loss of life

It may be a fungus

Thrush from the mouth to the other end

Or it may be cancer

A disease most foul

But later, rather than sooner

The vicious virus strikes

The nemesis just round the corner

HIV the victor, yet again