Category: Poems

Ray Romine Poems

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Let Us Rally Rondeaux Supporters

When these are gone, there’ll be no more
Until the ending of the war.
They’ve found a clever substitute
For garden tool, tin can, or suit,
But THESE’LL try their plastics lore!

Strong men their salty tears will pour
Since they can’t get ’em at the store.
The agony, we can’t compute,
When these are gone.

The girdle’s going cost some gore;
Silk stockings took a frightful score–
But picture me,if you’re astute,
WITHOUT MY GARTERS–ain’t I cute?
Prepare, O Pride, to drag the floor,
Yea, with my sox, forevermore
When these are gone!

SUGGESTIONS :
Pin ’em to your longies? You can’t, becawers
Safety-pins ain’t available, ‘n’ so are the drawers!

With rubber bands and garters as scarce as our liquor,
I guess all we can do is to just let ’em fliquor!

by Ray Romine Tuesday, January 25, 1944

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Let This Be A Lesson

I eat my spinach (I can’t say gaily);
I drink eight glasses of water daily;
Steer clear of dust; breathe from beneath;
I visit my dentist; I brush my teeth.
I sleep eight hours–or almost always–
And keep me out of drafty hallways;
I turn down drinks; I do not smoke–
And wistfully gaze at other folk.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, April 9, 1952

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Let My Zest Rest

Every gardening writer rants
That it’s cozy to have plants
Stuck in corners, on the sill,
Decorating fit to kill.
They grow positively sobby
On the merits of the hobby:
How much friendlier by far
Homes with pots of posies are!
They tell how to cultivate–
Water, feed, and propagate.

So far I get; then, as the flames
Consume the book, this one exclaims:
Indoor Gardening, no dice!
Outdoor blisters quite suffice.

by Ray Romine Saturday, August 4, 1951

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Lest You Judge Me Harshly

When I consider how my life’s misspent:
The sleep I’ve lost, the chances I have missed;
My softness when I should have made a fist;
My harshness at those times when to have bent
Were less of madness; my fullblowm well-meant
Endeavors which deservedly were hissed–
One might believe too numerous to list
The errors with which such a life is rent!

The poorest nature, though, two sides reveals.
A week ago I gave a tramp a dime
(It helped my ego); and I greased the wheels
On a kid’s bike which had irked me for some time.
I full well know what neighborliness means:
I helped a new grass widow* with her screens…

[*a woman whose husband is away often or for a prolonged period.]

by Ray Romine Thursday, August 23, 1951

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Lesson on Where to Buy a House

As quiet, prudent people should,
We chose with care our neighborhood.
The neighbors, schools, and fire protection
All came under close inspection;
The miles from work; which streets are muddied
When it rains, were scanned and studied.
All features, pro and con, we hoped,
Were analyzed and microscoped.

But when we lay us down to sleep,
Cars go by with horns that beep;
The dogs do bark, and kiddies play-
Where were they, one inquires, all day?
And there are sounds I cannot quote
From factories we’d thought remote.
We sense another oversight
When Diesel engines blast the night.
The last straw (we are on the ropes)
That teen-age girl next door elopes.

The NEXT house, dear, that’s yours and mine,
We shall select while we’re supine.

by Ray Romine Friday, September 1, 1950

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Lesson

When I am scolded, I pout then;
But underneath I’m glad
To know I’m liked much better when
I’m good than when I’m bad!
I’m learning as the days go by
That everybody makes
Some errors, which won’t hurt if I
Can learn from my mistakes!

by Ray Romine Friday, December 5, 1952

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Lesser of Two Evils

There lived a young thing from Detroit
Who struggled with all of her moit
To make money because
She had forty In-laws
Who were pleasanter, far, 2/3 toit.

by Ray Romine Monday, June 27, 1949

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Lepidopterist

How price the yellow daffodil
Or feeding bird upon my sill?

How judge the real or seeming worth
Of graying stone and greening earth?

What value, if we had to sell
The memory-haunting spruce tree’s smell?

Don’t laugh, then, at his crying need:
One small brown bug upon a weed.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, September 11, 1951