Category: Poems

Ray Romine Poems

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Proof

God gave us the will to fight
His battles as well as our own;
Transplanted His strength and His might
In all of these seedlings He’s sown;

And when, with His aid, we have finished
The task He has set us to do,
We discover our strength undiminished,
Is not that “A Sign Unto You”?

by Ray Romine Thursday, October 5, 1944

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Progress

One Star that night in Bethlehem outshone
All others in the scintillating sky.
The shepherds saw, and did not pass it by;
They knew the Star for Christ’s, and worshipped, prone,
As though for all men’s sins they might atone.
Though gleam they followed there was surely dim,
They saw, ana heard, and knew, and went to Him–
For them no test of faith but faith alone.

For nineteen-hundred years our minds have moved
And stumbled into things, and so improved
The mundane things of earth; and yet ignored
The side of life we should have underscored.
We’ve had of living proof two thousand years;
The shepherds had their faith–we have our fears.

by Ray Romine Sunday, November 28, 1943

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Professional Zealousy

A more determined man than a zoologist in his quest for armadillo or panther
Is your zealous botanist, because he won’t take no for an
anther.
Let us proceed to change the subject entirely at this point,
and consider why the pun, even if it’s a beaut,
Is firmly embedded in ill-repute.

It’s alright with me if it’s the lowest form of humor,
Because this admits it’s human therefore funny; and however low, I refuse to treat it like a malignant tumor .
And don’t forget that the Bard himself, while his contemporaries
were busy at playing badminton, Canasta, or sunning,
was bent over a much-chewed quill , punning.

Which, considering Shakespeare’s no mean ability ,
Should give the pun some semblance of respectability.

However, notwithstanding Bill’s efforts, a survey today discloses
That people who encounter puns go around holding their
well-bred noses.

As for myself, while I don’t mind the pun itself, especially
if it’s a stunner,
I am apt to get a wee bit provoked at the punner,

And wish he were heckled, chigger-ridden,under- estimated,
and when he rides a train, upper-berthed,
For pulling that pun before I thought of it ferthed!

by Ray Romine Monday, July 24, 1950

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Probably!

A boy sat on the curbstone and dangled his feet in the gutter,
On a Sunday, too;
And a Deacon, passing, stopped to reprimand him, and passed on
at the lad’s mutter:
“What’s it to YOU?”

The Deacon forgot all about it, and the boy grew up to be a
prize sample
Of What Not To Be;
But the Deacon’s attitude seems an even worse example,
At least to me.

Not that Deacons, particularly, are in this respect lax,
But all of us,
While we ere engaged in helping God, seem a bit afraid we’ll
overtax–
How curious!

For we’ve the greatest tenacity, and prolific ambition,
Working for money;
Yes, we can muster a truly prodigious effort at our job or position,
And still be sunny- –

A half-hearted effort is just s half-hearted effort, whether
for good put forth,
Or in search of plunder.
I conclude by questioning: If my earning efforts just equalled
my Church-efforts’ worth,
Would I STARVE, I wonder?

by Ray Romine Sunday, October 17, 1943

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Priority

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