This might not sound serious

This might not sound serious

but I don’t like my laugh.

It sounds like a hyena
that’s got a bad cough

and sometimes I hiccough
then that makes me giggle

so I’m choking and whooping
with spits in the middle.

I’ve tried every cure
from thinking of death

to holding my nose
to stop-off my breath

but nothing will change it
nothing will work

whatever I’ve tried
seems to make my laugh worse

my barking gets louder,
the hiccoughing giggles

rise to rhino-staccato,
drop to jellyfish-dribbles.

When the circus is over,
I’m weak and wet through.

It’s hard work is laughing
when your laugh’s like a zoo.