The verbs in English are a fright. How can we learn to read and write? Today we speak, but first we spoke. Some faucets leak, but never loke. Today we write, but first we wrote. We bite our tongues, but never bote. About these verbs, I sit and think. These verbs don't fit. They seem to wink at me, who sat for years and thought of verbs that never fat or wrought.