OUR QUEER LANGUAGE
When the English tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it is true
We say sew but likewise few;
And the maker of a verse
Cannot cap his horse with worse?
Beard sounds not the same as heard;
Cord is different from word.
Cow is cow, but low is low;
Shoe is never rhymed wit foe.
Think of hose and dose and lose;
And think of goose and yet of choose.
Think of comb and tomb and bomb;
Doll and roll and home and some;
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why not paid with said, I pray?
We have blood and food and good;
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done but gone and lone?
Is there any reason known?
And in short, it seems to me
Sounds and letters disagree.
Anonymous