diff --git a/cue/load/read.go b/cue/load/read.go
index 2861f91f0cf..7548f42b604 100644
--- a/cue/load/read.go
+++ b/cue/load/read.go
@@ -208,18 +208,6 @@ func (r *importReader) readImport(imports *[]string) {
 	r.readString(imports)
 }
 
-// readComments is like io.ReadAll, except that it only reads the leading
-// block of comments in the file.
-func readComments(f io.Reader) ([]byte, errors.Error) {
-	r := &importReader{b: bufio.NewReader(f)}
-	r.peekByte(true)
-	if r.err == nil && !r.eof {
-		// Didn't reach EOF, so must have found a non-space byte. Remove it.
-		r.buf = r.buf[:len(r.buf)-1]
-	}
-	return r.buf, r.err
-}
-
 // readImports is like io.ReadAll, except that it expects a CUE file as
 // input and stops reading the input once the imports have completed.
 func readImports(f io.Reader, reportSyntaxError bool, imports *[]string) ([]byte, errors.Error) {
diff --git a/cue/load/read_test.go b/cue/load/read_test.go
index 826ed1971d1..e7e7a73dc56 100644
--- a/cue/load/read_test.go
+++ b/cue/load/read_test.go
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ var readImportsTests = []readTest{
 	},
 	{
 		`package p
-		
+
 		// comment
-		
+
 		import "x"
 		import _ "x"
 		import a "x"
@@ -76,28 +76,6 @@ var readImportsTests = []readTest{
 	},
 }
 
-var readCommentsTests = []readTest{
-	{
-		`ℙpackage p`,
-		"",
-	},
-	{
-		`ℙpackage p; import "x"`,
-		"",
-	},
-	{
-		`ℙpackage p; import . "x"`,
-		"",
-	},
-	{
-		`// foo
-
-		// asdf
-		ℙHello, world`,
-		"",
-	},
-}
-
 func testRead(t *testing.T, tests []readTest, read func(io.Reader) ([]byte, errors.Error)) {
 	for i, tt := range tests {
 		var in, testOut string
@@ -140,10 +118,6 @@ func TestReadImports(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
-func TestReadComments(t *testing.T) {
-	testRead(t, readCommentsTests, readComments)
-}
-
 var readFailuresTests = []readTest{
 	{
 		`package`,