Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
I know the sparrow’s saucy note,
The robin’s cheerful chirrup;
The thrush sings from his speckled coat
Like gurgling maple syrup.
I’ve heard the nighthawk on the wing;
And whistling Bobwhite’s call;
Some birds I know sing in the spring,
And some sing in the fall.
But when cold winds blow loud and strong,
The redbird sings all winter long!
by Ray Romine Sunday, August 26, 1951
There’s an art to suitcase packing:
Lingerie goes inside shoes;
Also stockings and cosmetics,
Snugly wrapped against abuse.
Then the shoes fit round the bottom,
Soles to outside. Bathing suits
And non-wrinkle things like sweaters
Fill the circle made by boots.
Crannies left take belts and hankies,
Gloves, too. Lastly, suits and dresses
Folded gently, packed with tissue,
Saves you destination messes.
There you are! There’s nothing to it .
That, I may add, is the worst one.
Number two bag–just pitch in it.
What would not go in the first one.
by Ray Romine Friday, November 10, 1950
A sober man cannot walk straight enough to suit his neighbors-
Unless he’s pure as Ivory, his reputation labors.
But the sot is either pitied or he’s envied or he’s funny ,
Then forgiven, overlooked in the degree that he has money.
If he meanders down the street from side to side and spewing,
Why he is drunk Ha-very-ha, and knows not what he ‘s doing.
He can pick himself a quarrel, he cen heckle, he can bicker-
But please think nothing of it, it’s the influence of liquor.
And if he grows insulting, calling you a Dirty Name,
Kindly lay it to the whiskey–do not say the man’s to blame.
My point, then, taken simply, is this very little one:
That drunks, in my opinion, have the pick of all the fun.
And so, dear water-wagon, I must say goodbye to you–
I’ve a friend who needs insulting, and some things I want to do!
by Ray Romine Thursday, August 4, 1949
We can, I think, thus define void:
What a normal head contains insoid.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, January 31, 1951
We who live need never ask
For a better, nobler task
Than to seek a better way
To do what’s to do each day.
by Ray Romine Saturday, August 25, 1951
Some like their coffee scalding hot;
Others, though, are able
To drink it cold, but by Fate’s plot,
They share the self-same table!
by Ray Romine Tuesday, March 11, 1952
Let’s live the life that other folk
Have chosen for us. Wear the yolk;
But plodding, never quite despair–
Another life’s to come, and there,
Released from every moneyed care,
We’ll do those things which through this life
But dimly pierce the clouded strife.
Unless this sort of Heaven waits for me,
I shall in Hell among the Angels be.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, December 27, 1944
Let’s live the life thet other folk
Have chosen for us. Wear the yolk;
But plodding, never quite despair–
Another life’s to come, and there,
Released from every moneyed care,
We’ll do those things which through this life
But dimly pierce the clouded strife.
Unless this sort of Heaven waits for me,
I shall in Hell among the Angels be.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, December 26, 1944
The flowers that bloom in the springtime–hotcha!
If the backache hasn’t, the blisters hsve gotcha.
by Ray Romine Thursday, April 12, 1951
I’ve never had my I .Q. tested,
For all of me, the matter’s rested,
For I’d run into trouble; viz.,
Some Jasper’s asking what it is.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, August 2, 1950