Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
You peer into eternity:
Tell me, tell me what you see,
Are there riches waiting there?
Am I famous, fat and fair?
Or does the world regard with dread
My loud, unpleasant tyrant’s tread?
Is the pity in friends’ eyes
Meant for one I shall despise?
Perhaps no mind could stand the blow–
Perhaps it’s better not to know,
So peer on in serenity:
See your sights, but don’t tell me.
by Ray Romine Thursday, July 26, 1945
There are so few,
These days, of you,
I’d suggest a Museum
Where people could seum….
by Ray Romine Wednesday, September 10, 1947
0 source of contention and worry,
Tick on til you break out in chime:
You race when I’m in a hurry,
And stall when I’ve oodles of time.
Why can’t you be evil eschewing,
And turn into something sublime
That rushes when I’ve nothing doing,
And slows when I’m struggling for time?
by Ray Romine Tuesday, February 5, 1946
Will such artistic genius
Inevitably taper
When you are old enough to meet with,
Properly, blank paper?
by Ray Romine Sunday, August 19, 1951
The sure sign of a friend, I claim,
Is not how much he gives;
Nor what he has, nor yet his name,
Nor even how he lives.
I’ll overlook his homely map,
And my aversions drown:
A friend, to me, is just the chap
Who “lifts” me when I’m down!
by Ray Romine Monday, June 4, 1945
Daddy loves his little girl
Though he doesn’t always show it;
Every laugh and every curl,
Daddy loves his little girl.
He should teke, from this mad whirl,
Time to sometimes let you know it:
Daddy loves his little girl,
Though he doesn’t always show it.
by Ray Romine Sunday, February 6, 1944
Some fellows wear hats, while we others ignore
Cold blasts, and the sun at high noon;
But that bald spot of mine is no spot anymore:
I suppose it’s chapeaux for me soon.
by Ray Romine Saturday, August 6, 1949
Today–did it count toward my ultimate aim?
The things I have done, will the total amount
To the smallest of credits to put with my name–
Today: did it count?
Because of this day, will my influence mount?
Will my riches increase; am I closer to fame?
Have I learned, perhaps, probing some mystery’s fount?
But I fear I’m an object of censure and shame.
Although there were hurdles I couldn’t surmount,
These twenty-four hours were fun, just the same!
Today–DID it count?
by Ray Romine Tuesday, February 29, 1944
Let the music lilt and lift,
And let the dance begin;
And let who will the ashes sift
To probe and smell for sin.
Sin may creep into anything
That we may say or do .
For some it waits in everything
That has just Fun in view.
So let the music rise and swell:
I’ll dance–you still outclass me,
For when I’m on my way to Hell,
I’ll greet you when you pass me.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, February 6, 1946
The telephone. I rear from slumber.
Likely just a crossed-up number ,
Or that friend of the girl next door;
Doubtless that and nothing more.
I’m SURE it couldn’t mean a thing-
Unless, of course, I let it ring.
by Ray Romine Saturday, June 24, 1950