Category: Fame

Abe Lincoln shone at splitting rails;
And George at shunning lies;
At adding to geography
Columbus took a prize.

Morse gave the world the telegraph–
Go on and do your worst!
In any line, there’s always some
Smart Alec got there first.

A bunch of fine examples,
They’re the reason, just the same,
Today it takes a Superman
To crack the Hall of Fame!

by Ray Romine Monday, January 28, 1952

Seeking wealth and adoration?
Here is true perpetuation:
Write a low, but lurid comma
Song like “Pistol-packin’ Mamma”!
Or, if you’d really public totter,
Learn to sing like Frank Sinatter!

by Ray Romine Saturday, October 30, 1943

The answer’s here (no need to dig)]:
A small mind measures just so big.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, March 24, 1953

We look for signs of greatness in our age:
We scan each face, and look into each heart.
(‘Tis fun to praise, but more to tear apart.)
As probing takes us to the printed page,
The work of scholar, journalist, or sage,
Or bust by sculptor, or some pictured art–
We shake our heads: it’s not conformed to chart;
It fits perhaps the world, but not its gauge.

And then yon found a work so far ahead,
It stood above all others round about.
“But hold–this man is living still, you said.
So this our scale; We cannot highly tout
A man, nor call him great until he’s dead.
No immortal, he, who lives to find it out!

by Ray Romine Sunday, November 21, 1943

I contemplate becoming great,
But doubt if I could take it:
For one false stride, one’s classified
Near-great, who didn’t make it.

by Ray Romine Sunday, September 4, 1949

Congratulate me well upon
My triumph. It is plain
It may be years and years before
I do as well again.

Laud my small accomplishments
From cradle right to coffin,
For please recall that after all
They do not happen often.

Tell me I am wonderful,
But make it snappy, very,
While I’ve the knack; I’ll soon be back
To being ordinary!

by Ray Romine Monday, January 28, 1952

Remember General Patton, who
Slapped an invalid, and grew;
Sing a song of S. Legree,
Remembered for his cruelty;
Remember little Napoleon–
He looked out for Number One;
Sing of Ivan the Terrible Man
Who terrorized the Russian clan.
Hitler, too, will be remembered
For the world that he dismembered.
Hollywood ‘s a living lie–
There, hero-worship, gone awry
Produces murder, rape and mayhem:
Do we censure?–No, we payhem.

And small folk who made Good a must
Hear History trample on their dust.

by Ray Romine Thursday, January 11, 1945

0 what to do to make me famous?
How brand my name in fire on history’s page?
What course to take to be remembered,
And seem almost a god to future age?

Should I find a way to make the headlines,
Or blaze my name on movie-house marquee?
Or fight through life to make a million,
And turn the eyes of earth today at me?

Look back! The man who is remembered
Is not the one who thought of wealth alone,
Or worked toward fame as his objective,
Or took the time to call his soul his own;

Who lives for others need not seek her,
For Fame will rightly follow in his van;
Fame lasts with him who creates beauty,
Or sincere service does, for fellow man.

by Ray Romine Saturday, August 1, 1942

The Schnoz is noted for his nose,
The President for deathless prose;
Red Skelton for his clever cracks;
And Crosby for his income-tax;
Joe Stalin has a way with fibs;
Adam owned some extra ribs;
Winnie wears a black cigar;
One Kaiser built a motor car;
Our country’s Father built a stack
Of reputation as a hack;
Joe Louis was a clever feinter;
Grandma Moses is a painter.
Each fellow-man, each obscure brother,
Seems noted for one thing or other,
But where’s the fame I have amassed?
I’m background stuff; i.e., contrast.

by Ray Romine Friday, February 29, 1952

Something difficult to do
Is scampering into Who’s Who.
Harder than cracking it, though, I’d
Find the acting dignified.

by Ray Romine Friday, May 19, 1950