Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

- B. Shaw

I loved this poem!! It was fun to pronounce all those words and see all their uses because they’re homophones.

Take Some Time and actually Read this

this is a GUY TALKING…

ITS 7TH GRADE…

I stared at the girl next to me
She was my so called ‘best friend’
I stared at her
Long, silky hair
And I wished she was mine
But she didn’t notice me like that
I knew it
After class she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before
And I handed them to her
She said “thanks”
And gave me a kiss on the cheek
I wanted to tell her
I want her to know that I don’t want to be ‘just friends’
I love her but I’m too shy to tell her
And I don’t know why…

IT’S JUNIOR YEAR…

My phone rang
On the other end it was her
She was in tears
Mumbling on and on about how her love had broken her heart
She asked me to come over because she didn’t want to be alone
So I did
As I sat next to her on the sofa
I stared at her soft eyes
Wishing she was mine
After 2 hours, a Drew Barrymore movie, and 3 bags of chips
She decided to go to sleep
She looked at me, said “thanks” and gave me a kiss on the cheek
I wanted to tell her
I want her to know
That I don’t want to be ‘just friends’
I love her but I’m too shy to tell her
And I don’t know why…

IT’S SENIOR YEAR…

The day before prom
She walked to my locker
“My date is sick” she said,
“He’s not going to go.”
Well, I didn’t have a date, and in 7th grade
We made a promise that if neither of us had dates
We’d go together just as ‘best friends’
And so we did…

IT’S PROM NIGHT…

After everything was over with
I was standing at her front door step
I stared at her
She smiled at me
I wanted her to be mine
But she doesn’t think of me like that
And I know it
Then she said “I had the best time, Thanks!”
And she gave me a kiss on the cheek
I wanted to tell her
I wanted her to know that I don’t want to be ‘just friends’
I love her but I’m just too shy
And I don’t know why…

IT’S GRADUATION DAY…

A day passed
And then a week
And then a month
Before I could blink
It was graduation day
I watched her
Perfect body
Floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma
I wanted her to be mine
But she doesn’t think of me that way
And I know it
Before everyone went home
She came to me in her smock and hat
And cried as I hugged her
Then she lifted her head from my shoulders and said “you’re my best friend, Thanks!”
And gave me a kiss on the cheek
I wanted to tell her
I wanted her to know that I wanted to be more than ‘just friends’
I love her but I’m too shy
And I don’t know why…

IT’S A FEW YEARS LATER…

Now I sit in the pews of the church
A church that she is getting married in now
I watched her say “I do” and drive off to her new life
Married to another man
I wanted her to be mine
But she didn’t see me like that
And I knew it
But before she drove away
She came to me and said “You came! Thanks!”
And she kissed me on the cheek
I wanted to tell her
I wanted her to know that I didn’t want to be ‘just friends’
I love her but I’m just too shy
And I don’t know why…

YEARS PASSED…

I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my ‘best friend’
At the service they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years
This is what it said
“I stare at him
Wishing he was mine
But he doesn’t notice me like that
And I know it
I wanted to tell him
I wanted him to know
That I don’t want to be ‘just friends’
I love him but I’m just too shy
And I don’t know why
I wish he would tell me he loved me”
‘I wish I did too’
I thought to myself, and I cried…

This poem just touches my heart and (nearly) brings a tear to my eye…

Time

For years we played
Innocent and young;
Pulling pranks and who knows what
with friends.
But now, we know better
As he was diagnosed with
…
The curse

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

During the time span of just three months
Cancer ravaged his body;
It destroyed his brain.
The tumour spread, forthwith
He went through various treatments:
Pills, surgery, and then the dreaded C word
Chemotherapy

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

For weeks he tried, to stop the monster from crushing his body
Never again did he try
Never again did he hold my hand
Never again did I see his face
My tears, spilling like blood on the day

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

Smoke, billowed, as the fire consumed his body
His last dying wish to me: “remember me.”
Always will his voice ring clearly in my ears;
Time unable to erase it.
Those times when there was nothing to stop us, from taking on the world;
Early in the morning, or late at night.
Roses adorning his urn,
Every day, every night, without fail
Dreams of us together, forever shattered.

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

He didn’t have a chance:
For Time is heartless.
He hadn’t fully experienced life:
For time is merciless.
He has no more time with this world:
For time is meaningless.

Everything we did together
Everything we talked about
Never left my mind
Never left my memory.
Everything we laughed about
Everything we were sad over
Never were they forgotten
Never were they heard again.
For…

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

Each day a lone visitor
Each day a day gone by
Without a friend
Without a partner to spend life with.
Each day people’s memories fade
Each day I remember as clearly as the day he left.

Time is heartless
Time is merciless
Time is meaningless

By Antony Hills, Benjamin Lee, Prosha Rahman, Jasmin Wong, Sareeta Zaid 8O, 2007

Warmth, Comfort
Shelter, Peace
My little Hideaway?
Or something different?

Open my eyes
Peak a little
Surroundings are familiar yet
The place is different?

Open my eyes some more
Look around me
Start seeing what
Surrounds me

Same old tree, leaves are green
Still some birds singing along
Still the fluffy clouds
Flying along with the sun

Same green grass
That is soft underfoot
Same quiet corner of the world
Which is unnoticed by all

Yet something is different
Something has changed
Something is new
Something is better

I look around me
And then I see
It’s you who is new here
Who’s made a nice change

You’ve joined me in my Hideaway
When everyone else passes by
You sat down with me
And made my day

You stay with me
Through the day, in my Hideaway
Till when I leave and wake
From my dream

And there you are right by me
Telling me to wake up, giving me a gentle nudge
I wake up in your arms
Eyes looking up into yours

“It’s time to go, it’s time for class
Stop napping at school.
Hey, you seem happy
Tell me,” you say

And so I tell you
Of my Hideaway
And of how you joined me
And made my day.

-Ant

Fluffy clouds drift through the sky
Sun shines lightly, warm and gentle
Plane passes over, like a lone bird on a journey
Blue sky watches

Green grass around me
Soft and warm
Tree looms over me, shadow casted
Over me, as I sit under it

Peaceful, tranquil
Quiet, relaxed
Thoughts roam through my head
As I sit there and watch

By my lonesome I sit
Watching the world
People walk by
I remain unnoticed

My little hideaway
From the rest of the world
No one knows I’m here
Not even my fear

I start to doze
My eyes to close
And I drift off to sleep
To a world of dreams

Or so I think
As I wake to find
myself in my bed
A dream it was, my hideaway no more

A figment of my imagination
A escape for my mind
My hideaway is nothing
But a dream lost in time

-Ant

Anyways, enough about my eye(lid). School’s been good to me. Futsal comp has started again. This year I’m in a team with Kausthab, Geetheken, Anthony, Arnav and Josh. Our first game we won 2-nil. We were against Kapilan’s team which included Paranavan, Praween, Vibhab, Vrushank (how is his name spelt?), Niro (and Kapi…). Great game, Arnav says his shot was a complete fluke, but I didn’t see it that well, so I can’t really say.

*Sigh* Now I have to really, really, really, finish my English story, and write the reflection statement. Must remember to redo history presentation, work on Geo assignment and IST work, and do maths revision. Must do more practice of piano. I really need to do something about my attitude at the moment. Don’t ask.

A little something I found on the net. It comes from Halo (2nd game i think….).

I have walked among men and angels for three thousand years. Time has no end… no beginning… no purpose.

I wander the earth, seeking forgiveness for my horrible crimes against God and man.

I live to see death, destruction, over the light, but the light cannot be extinguished.

I live in a prison of my own demise.

I am lost in time…

Decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray.

Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle,

Then minister frowned as he saw the man he hadn’t shaved in a while.

His shirt was kinda shabby and his coat was worn and frayed.

The man knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his lap.

Well, the minister’s suspicion grew, with robbery a main fear

He decided to stop the man and ask him, “What are you doing here?”

The old man said, he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour.

Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power.

“I stay only moments, see, because the factory is so far away;

As I kneel here talking to the Lord, this is kinda what I say:

‘I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I’ve been,

Since we found each other’s friendship and you took away my sin.

Don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you every day.

So, Jesus, this is Jim checking in.’”

The minister felling foolish, told Jim, that was fine.

He told the man he was welcome to come and pray just anytime.

Time to go, Jim smiled, said “Thanks.” He hurried to the door

The minister knelt at the altar, he’d never done it before.

His cold heart melted, warmed with love, and met with Jesus there.

As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated old Jim’s prayer:

“I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I’ve been,

Since we found each other’s friendship and you took away my sin.

I don’t know much of how to pray, but I think about you everyday.

So, Jesus, this is me checking in.”

Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn’t come.

As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry some.

At the factory, he asked about him, learning he was ill.

The hospital staff was worried, but he’d given them a thrill.

The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward.

His smiles, a joy contagious. Changed people, were his reward.

The head nurse couldn’t understand why Jim was so glad,

When no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had.

The minister stayed by his bed, he voiced the nurse’s concern:

No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn.

Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile;

“The nurse is wrong, she couldn’t know that in here all the while

Everyday at noon, He’s here, a dear friend of mine, you see,

He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me:

‘I just came again to tell you, Jim, how happy I have been,

Since we found this friendship, and I took away your sin.

Always love to hear you pray, I think about you each day,

And so Jim, this is Jesus checking in.’”

~Author Unknown~