We raise bees,
And they make honey;
We raise bees,
And we make money.
But I don’t see
(If you know, please say)
How Mrs. Bee
Collects HER pay.
by Ray Romine Thursday, February 4, 1954
Category: Poems
Ray Romine Poems
Queen Iris
She holds her atately head erect
And lets attendant bees
Carry off her dust of gold
To other families.
Her pride flares fiercely, None must know
Of her unmoneyed plight:
Of how those dew-rinsed velvet robes
Were borrowed from the night.
by Ray Romine Sunday, November 12, 1950
Quatrain Composed for Tin Wedding Anniversary
Recall, dear, how we would debate
Upon that point, or this’n?
Those days are gone; perhape it’s Fate–
Today you talk: – I listen.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, April 24, 1945
Qualification
A Genius, he who finds the cause
Of enmity between in-laws.
But this is for sure: this bold detective
Will have to be single to maintain perspective!
by Ray Romine Saturday, October 26, 1946
Pupa
There sways outside my window ledge
Cecropia’s streamlined cocoon;
A caterpillar miracle
Of light and leaf and golden noon.
The brown-and-red furred adult moth
Will from her sleep of pseudo-death
Step forth when her alarm clock rings:
The gentlest sound of April’s breath.
by Ray Romine Saturday, June 23, 1951
Punctuation By A Six-year Old
When bubble-gum’s acquired with ease,
Her cheeks outline parentheses;
When bedtime tiptoes through the dark,
She becomes a question-mark;
Say something slightly out-of-joint,
And she’s an exclamation point!
She’s the quickest sort of dash
When it’s “Gimme, Daddy!” (Cash)
Prize of all, though, is when Mamma
Tries to have her make haste comma,
Then, excuses near a myriad,
She slows down to nothing. Period.
by Ray Romine Thursday, April 5, 1951
Punctual
I watch the clock in order to
Be on time always for you.
Though our moments together
Match miles to the sun,
I could never willingly
Waste even one.
by Ray Romine Monday, November 14, 1949
Psychic
You state your side,
And I’ll state mine;
No fighting, no abuse.
But I’ll impart,
Before we start,
I Know whose side I’ll choose.
by Ray Romine Thursday, January 25, 1951
Proxy
“Don’t do this; and do without …..”
Now although I sometimes deplore one,
A doctor’s nice to have about
To make one’s resolutions for one.
by Ray Romine Sunday, December 31, 1950
Prowler
When autumn has vanished and left us the cold,
The frost on the window is fearless and bold;
The sparrow, dejected, pulls neck into feathers;
Lone weeds are dark slaves that the bitterness tethers;
One leaf on the apple tree manfully clings;
While the pine and the cedar spread graceful green wings.
The wind is young; gusty; He shows off his might
As snow clouds debate with their burden of white.
That cold scrape of door as we let ourselves out
Reminds us of mittens, with Winter about;
And the white picket fence with a snow drift beneath
Is this masculine harridan showing his teeth.
by Ray Romine Monday, November 19, 1951