Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
Ray Romine Poems
Three cheers for the holly;
Hurray for the fun.
The season of Christmas has really begun.
Three cheers for old Santa;
Hurrah for his deer;
They help bring favorite time of the year!
Three cheers for red candles;
Hurray for the tree;
I’m glad it is Christmas for you and for me!
by Ray Romine Sunday, June 6, 1954
“Women are laughing less in public, owing to world conditions.” …News Note.
This noise about a laughless style
I don’t regard too direly;
Milady fears more than a smile
May de-frock her entirely.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, March 28, 1950
I think all kids are very nice.
But those I have will quite suffice.
by Ray Romine Monday, August 21, 1950
Nations want our munitions: we heed ’em–
We send ’em Lend-lease and we feed ’em;
But isn’t it queer
That inside of a year
They don’t know us at all when we need ’em?
by Ray Romine Friday, August 10, 1951
One is forced to admit, sometimes,
There are easier things than rhymes.
Couplets and quatrains won’t form. Instead,
Everything else runs through the head:
Things that bother me, folks I owe;
Debts and troubles from years ago;
Food and my over-weight together;
Lousy politics and lousier weather;
Stars and planets and children’s needs;
How the Greater Tasmanian Bullfrog breeds;
Bathroom fixtures, flowers in a bunch;
Baseball, genetics, and what’s for lunch.
Yet it must be these, though he may not show it,
That make up, finally, any poet…..
by Ray Romine Sunday, December 16, 1951
When committees get set to deploy, it
Is their show, if they want to destroy it;
But still it must irk us,
For, if it’s a circus,
Why shouldn’t the public enjoy it?
by Ray Romine Friday, May 4, 1951
Mike and Keith and I were bold
Pirates after buried gold.
We dug and dug behind the wood
( In spots where mother said we could.)
But though we hunted low and high,
We found no treasure for our try.
Still, mother says, we had our treasure
In all that play, and HUNTING pleasure!
by Ray Romine Sunday, January 11, 1953
If children leave you irritated,
Don’t make too much fuss.
Their job is far more complicated:
Understanding us.
by Ray Romine Thursday, September 1, 1949
Of course I’m not perfect: I don’t claim to be,
But my ego would soar, beyond doubt,
If you wouid admit what a nasty shock it
Must have been when you first found it out!
by Ray Romine Monday, February 11, 1952
Here, tangled in ribbons and paper debris
Of a post-Christmas opening, see you and me
Aware that all season no thrill has compared
To this feeling of secrets delightfully shared.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, December 25, 1951