Our feeling toward our Chinese chums
May one day thaw and mellow;
But a Red, it seems, is still a Red
Even when he’s yellow.
by Ray Romine Friday, November 17, 1950
Category: Poems
Ray Romine Poems
Incentive
What I have not is mine to get!
Desires unsated dodge my net
To keep me always on the job.
The work I touch, the filth I swab
Are heights but incomplete, as yet.
When cravings move their feet and fret,
They all unknowingly abet
My happinees–and yet, I sob
“What I have not!”
The fun is getting out of debt;
He is not dry who was not wet .
Possessions unpossessed can mob
Me anytime; and life shall throb
If this and it are never met:
What I have not.
by Ray Romine Sunday, August 11, 1946
Incandescent Gasbag
The lecturer I long to meet
Is one who gives more light than heat.
by Ray Romine Wednesday, July 25, 1951
In The Window Is A Candle
The dying hermit grasped my hand;
Turned burning eyes to mine:
“No sorrow feel, my lad, for me;
None are, who’ll miss, or pine.
“My life’s been lonely? Aye, that’s true,
If just of men we speak:
But God has much to offer those
Who help of Him would seek.
“I’ve talked with Him–I’ll live with Him,
Now that it’s time to go;
Lean closer now, my boy, and I’ll–
I’ll tell you why I KNOW!
“You’ve heard how travel-weary one
Be guided by a light
In window placed by anxious folk,
To lead him home aright?
“Our Father, Lord of Heav’n and earth,
Knows I no longer roam–
The Lamp of God tonight will light
This weary traveller Home.”
…….
I closer to the window moved,
In wonder, and I spied
The cause for his transfigured face,
The instant ere he died.
One lonely.star shone through the haze
Of cloudy, troubled sky;
One flick’ring beacon, there for him–
He did not fear to die!
Down seemed to float the hermit’s voice,
But strong, with new-found vim:
“God’s Light will someday justify
The Faith we have in Him!”
by Ray Romine Saturday, November 14, 1942
In That Interval, Anything Could Happen
Although I find I’m somewhat short
At eating time, am I unnerved?
I order food with this retort:
The sign invites “Please Pay When Served.”
by Ray Romine Sunday, September 2, 1951
In Retrospect
It would seem we were mostly at fault a-
Long, I should say, about Yalta.
by Ray Romine Friday, December 1, 1950
In Person
Recital of the ills and such
Affecting Jones–or you–or Smith
Bore me, I find, almost as much
As those ills I’m afflicted with.
by Ray Romine Thursday, February 1, 1951
In Defense Of The Man With The Binoculars
In pain, Time lingers on whose hands
No vital interest commands;
But who gives ear while Nature sings
Sees fair Time fly on silver wings.
Choose, then: long life of irritation,
Or a shorter one of pure elation…
by Ray Romine Thursday, November 15, 1951
In Defense Of A Peculiar Appetite
Hogs and canines, I am told,
Turn green at what goes in my hold.
Fellow humans enter spasms
At things that soothe my inner chasms.
Do I ply them? No, you see
The less they eat, the more’s for me.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, September 6, 1949
In Answer To Mrs. Bull:
I wondered why I should receive
Your literary missile:
Was it out of sympathy
For my bedraggled whistle?
Or were you feeling sorry for
The woeful way I’m dressed;
Or the way my shoes are never shined,
And pants sre never pressed?
Or could it be the load I bear
Had made you literary;
Or maybe all those miles I tramp
Had made you sorry, very?
Or possibly (O, surely not–
What with a guy like Jimmie)
That you had gone you wacky, and
Were fascinated wi’ me!
But I am onto all your wiles–
Don’t try to spoof your betters–
For that was just a line of “Bull”
So I would bring you letters!
Still–answer’s there for me to find,
If I were energetic:
It’s that we ALL possess this urge
To sometimes wax poetic!
by Ray Romine Tuesday, November 16, 1943