When it’s English that we SPEAK
Why is STEAK not rhymed with WEAK?
And couldn’t you please tell me HOW
COW and NOW can rhyme with BOUGH?

I simply can’t imagine WHY
HIGH and EYE sound like BUY.
We have FOOD and BLOOD and WOOD,
And yet we rhyme SHOULD and GOOD.

BEAD is different from HEAD,
But we say RED, BREAD and SAID.
GONE will never rhyme with ONE
Nor HOME and DOME with SOME and COME.

NOSE and LOSE look much alike,
So why not FIGHT, and HEIGHT, and BITE?
DOVE and DOVE look quite the same,
But not at all like RAIN, REIN and REIGN.

SHOE just doesn’t sound like TOE,
And all for reasons I don’t KNOW.
For all these words just prove to ME
That sounds and letters DISAGREE.



Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena; Abraham, Sunita Anne. The Language of Language: Core Concepts in Linguistic Analysis (Second Edition). Singapore: Prentice Hall / Pearson Education South Asia Pte Ltd, 2006, pp. 111