Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
The snow comes smartly from the west,
An endless, churning tide.
The weeds turn white from dullest brown,
And grow again as wide.
The titmouse is a-shiver, but
The trees stand straight to dare
The elements, now they are dressed
In new long underwear.
by Ray Romine Monday, January 5, 1953
Gather ’round and listen, fellas,
How the stork, at Walt-and-Trella’s
Dropped a bundle, pink end merry,
The twenty-sixth of January.
Second baby holds no terror
For who have learned by trial-and-error;
No problem, David’s bottle and bathy-
They have learned all this on Kathy.
Wally’s smile is inches bigger–
Trella has resumed her figger;
Bernard’s smirking too, for joy:
He SAID this one would be a boy!
With his start, he should be, yessir-
A Botany Teacher, or Professor.
TALENTS?? They will be–attention!–
Much too numerous to mention!
In closing, it will suit us swella
If the kid takes after Trella- –
For we can stand him wet or squally,
So he DOESN’T RESEMBLE WALLY!!
1-18-45
(David Joseph born 1-26-1945)
by Ray Romine Thursday, January 18, 1945
We worked the attic through today,
Past ballgoves, lampshades, books and vases.
We couldn’t throw a thing away–
But left the dust in different places.
by Ray Romine Saturday, August 19, 1950
No Texan ever did a wrong,
Except one, maybe, in a song.
The only Texans who were slow
Were shipped out many years ago.
To find a Texan who’s not smart
Would take a special kind of art.
Gnats Texans do not have at all
Since nothing ever grows so small.
Pauperism you won’t find,
Unless it’s serving as a blind.
Texas is the super-state
Wherein what makes its people great
Is, having noxious faults that fit them,
They’d rather perish than admit them!
by Ray Romine Thursday, May 15, 1952
And what is so rare as a day in July?
If you don’t wilt, you melt or fry.
If you’re not happy with any of these,
Some July mornings you wake up and freeze.
But please don’t give up on July as terrific–
No month you can name is completely perrific.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, July 8, 1947
The old-fashioned struggle to outdo the Joneses
Seems, by comparison, narrow and biased
Since it’s cropped up again on a much higher plane:
To see who can get his TV aerial highest.
by Ray Romine Saturday, May 5, 1951
June sixth, Cathryn Edna, you opened cute eyes
To see Harold and Ethel watch YOU with surprise!
They expected. a darling, like you, true–and yet
It was some disconcerting: they’d got ’em a set!
Your dad looked at mother, and thoughtfully cooed:
“Twice as much Yak-ing*, and twice as much food!”
He was kidding, of course, but you’ll show the old son:
Twins’re twice as much trouble–and twice as much fun!
*You get this naturally! Ask mother about the time she talked to me for an hour-and-a-half on the ‘phone!
by Ray Romine Monday, May 12, 1952
She wants to lose;
I want to gain-
Which isn’t working,
In the main.
“I’m cook!” she says ,
“Cooperate!”
I’m losing ground,
And also weight.
by Ray Romine Friday, August 19, 1949
We cannot say to those who pass,
“Please Do Not Walk Upon The Grass”,
Which has retreated, if you’ll pardon
Our mentioning it, to the garden.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, June 6, 1951
Now once we had a weatherman
On whom we could depend,
He’d send us fair and warmer days,
A shower now and then.
But now he has his wires all crossed–
He just can’t hit a thing.
I guess the job of weatherman
Just wasn’t meant for spring.
(Alternate)
I think he’d better hibernate
Until we’re clear of spring!
by Ray Romine Thursday, April 20, 1933