Oh give me a pencil and paper;
Surround me with books I adore;
Give me the mood and the leisure;
And a study with carpeted floor.
And then, can I WRITE? Don’t be funny:
I sit and I muse and I mope.
Then, at lunch the next day I compose me
A gem on an old envelope!
Oh give me i clean sheet of Bristol,
Some India ink and a brush;
Six kinds of pens. an eraser,
A desk chair upholstered with plush.
And then can I DRAW? Quite the oh no?
I chew and I rant, I go mad–
And later, I doodle a doozy
On a piece of a telephone pad.
So…
From perfect conditions please spare me;
I thrive on the hardships, perhaps–
For the richer and softer I find it,
The nearer my “art” to collapse!
9-11-44 Written at lunch,
on the back of en envelope
by Ray Romine Tuesday, September 12, 1944
