Author: Ray Romine

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And Where It Stops, Nobody Knows

I guess I must have overslept;
Here bills are dated First of Sept.

I wonder what I shall have hocked
When they come headed First of Oct?

I’ll HAVE to find a treasure-trove
Sometime before the first of Nov.,

And so catch up, or know no peace
When we are writing “First of Dec.”

Then, Christmas fixes me again:
I’m buried on the 1st of Jan!

by Ray Romine Thursday, August 9, 1951

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And There Are Millions Like Him

Our son must have a bike to go
To school; it’s two whole blocks, you know.
He will wrestle roller skates
While the busy dentist waits.
Dad must drop him off, what’s more,
When we need things at the store.
The druggist is so far remote
The boy is asking for a boat.
He will not walk, I’m almost saying,
But he’ll run a mile when he is playing!

by Ray Romine Thursday, September 13, 1951

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And Sew On

The wife of a fellow named Dutton
So hated to sew on a button
That he, in despair,
Joined a nudist camp, where
He don’t need no button for nuttin’!

by Ray Romine Thursday, April 1, 1954

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And I Was Cute, Too — Then!

I have a picture on my wall
That shows me as a boy of two;
I’d like to swap my worries now
For those of then, and wouldn’t you?

I have to stop and just admire
The daraling, ducky way I dressed,
In starcy little cunning things
That daddy bought, and mother pressed.

Through quite no effort of my own,
My hair was combed–my hands were cleaned;
And trouble couldn’t reach me then,
For someone always intervened.

Just sit and play, and play and sit;
No thing to do but just relax.
No war to fight; no work to do:
And, best of all, no income tax.

No headache then, no nerves, no rush;
No children of our own to tend–
What did I ever do to make
A situation like this end?

All our aims are much the same:
To have us riches, leave our fears.
And these, I say, I had when I
Was slightly damp behind the ears!

A little wish, O Providence,
Grant to this dreamer. If you can,
THen make me once again a kid
So I can wish I were a MAN!

by Ray Romine Saturday, March 18, 1944

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And I Do Mean Rally

Herds of Elephants Threaten to Isolate Villages in Africa
…Headline

Elephants wildly stampeding!
Natives awakened and heeding!
Watching Donkeys who bray
Over here, one could say
Maybe this is what this country’s needing?

by Ray Romine Friday, February 9, 1951