The English language might be better
Without the pesky “silent letter”
That in frustration we will see
In “knit” in “knife” and also “knee”:
All words which have a starting “k”
That we don’t ever, ever say.
And that’s not all, no, goodness me!
In “plumber”, you don’t hear the “b”.
Nor at the end in words like “thumb”
Or, for that matter, “lamb” and “crumb”.
Some words from Greek, like “pneumatic”
Contain a “p” you’d never pick.
Real challenges galore, it’s true
In words with silent “w”.
“Sword”, “wrinkle”, “wrestle”, “wrist”
And I could make a longer list.
Another group that’s hard to spell
Has dropped an “h” in there as well.
There’s “chemist”, “whale” and also “rhyme”
“Wheat” the grain and “when” the time.
The “g” in “sign” will feel at home
If in the garden there’s a “gnome”.
In spoken speech of course you’ve got
A “not” that sounds the same as “knot”.
But when we have the written word
We see the letters we’ve not heard.
Thus “knight”, the man in armour plate,
And “night”, a day that’s run too late.
The “knew” that means you had been told
Is not the opposite of “old”.
You take a “wrapper” from a sweet;
A “rapper” from a ghetto street.
And so perhaps a use is found
For that annoying silent “sound”.
