Category: Astronomy

A sharp-drawn breath, a partial sigh,
Escape me at the midnight sky
With splendor stretched, But even so,
I cannot feel inferior , No;
We are one grand Infinity–
I need the stars–the stars need me.
They give me light, and inspiration-
I write them up for publication!

by Ray Romine Sunday, March 12, 1950

The planets course their slow way through the stars
And boast their nearness with their borrowed light.
They add, that earth may hide its man-made scars,
Their splendor to already magic night.

But man, for all his faults possessed a mind
That turned for information to the skies
Where interest in the planets made him find
That knowledge adds to beauty in his eyes.

by Ray Romine Saturday, October 7, 1950

Leo rules the April skies,
And growls in tones sulphurous.
He makes flee Cancer’s baleful eyes ,
And holds off bright Arcturus.

But what is April’s must be gentle ,
Dreamy-eyed and sentimental;
So this bold lion of the dark is
Much less vicious than his bark is.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, October 4, 1950

Smiling, features chisel-hewn,
First man sets down on the moon
After taking, with some pride,
A fast look at the Other Side.

Space is his: the moon, then Mars–
Stepping stones out to the stars!
Down the lanes of marching years
Man has flown above his fears.

by Ray Romine Sunday, June 29, 1952

Twinkle, twinkle, little star–
How I wonder what you are;
And do you wonder what I am,
Or don’t you just plain give a dam’?

by Ray Romine Sunday, March 3, 1946

And now across the autumn’s darkening sky
Comes Capricornus with his fish’s tail
In frantic flop because his watchful eye
Has lighted on Aquarius with his pail.
But this mild water-bearer means no harm
To Sea-goats. “Have no fear,” his look implores.
And that container dangling from his arm Is his excuse for getting out-of-doors.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, March 18, 1952

Since I cannot woo sleep. I sit outside
My deck chair in the center of the lawn,
And revel in the glory houses hide:
The heavens we ignore from dusk to dawn.
There’s Vega’s bright blue stare; the dragon’s eyes
Return it wink for wink, while Hercules
Above them both stands guarding all the skies,
And Cygnus wings his southward way with ease
To Join the eagle. Now the Scorpion’s heart,
Antares, flashes redly farther south– ,
Until Bootee plays his lusty part,
Escorting me in fancy past the mouth
Of Serpens to a dr eam-da te I must keep–
And grateful for the while I couldn’t sleep!

by Ray Romine Friday, June 16, 1944

“A penny for your thoughts”–what would be worth
Galileo’s, telescope turned to the moon,
First man to see night’s rival of the noon
So magnified! Did he exclaim in mirth
In mighty triumph? Did a sudden dearth
Of words completely claim him? Did the boon
Of seeing first the startling moonscape, soon
Sweep him, for several heartbeats, off the earth?

I see him there, his eager knowing gaze
Fixed on the craters and upon the seas;
He watched the terminator show the maze
Of mountains, or perhaps Cleomedes.
I think reaction took him in its spell
To where he sat back, sighed, and uttered “Well!”

by Ray Romine Monday, August 27, 1951

Shining, with compassion, down
On the frosted roofs of town;
Promising next summer’s yields
To the farmers’ snowed-in fields,
Winter stars, to me, unbend,
Making each man’s warmest friend.
Or is it because they’re clearer
Winter stars seem so much nearer?

by Ray Romine Tuesday, June 19, 1951

April’s sky, clear, in the main,
Manages to bring us rain.
Is that sky a hoax, a fake–
In truth a clear inverted lake
With stars holes in the midnight blue
Punched to let the water through?

by Ray Romine Monday, August 27, 1951