Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
Along the ground the drying leaves
Hustle mournfully;
I hear them whispering as they slither,
“Whither, Higher Power, whither?
The end, what shall it be?”
Along the street I saw a man
Shuffle hopelessly;
I heard him mutter, as he stumbled,
“I think my God has somehow fumbled,
To make a this of me.”
Man, whose mind on reason borders,
Has little on the “lower” orders ..
11-26-44
(In Sunday School)
by Ray Romine Sunday, November 26, 1944
Although, I warn, opinions vary,
If you’ll expect me ordinary
You’ll not have cause to be dejected
Because I’m less than you expected.
by Ray Romine Friday, February 16, 1951
Hear the misleading coo of the turtle-dove
Who builds no nest worth speaking of.
How, I ask, did a bird so slovenly
Get a reputation that’s simply dovenly?
by Ray Romine Thursday, February 18, 1954
He mows his lawn when I am wont to nap,
Or picks that moment for a family scrap.
His lot is large, yet where he ties his pup
The dog’s in MY house if my window’s up.
His television and his radio
May only play at LOUD, for all I know.
When his son’s grades by one iota mount,
The neighbors get a play-by-play account.
Repairwork? If he has a nail to drive
The entire town’s aware he is alive.
I hear him whistle nightly, sad, off-key,
Putting his car away at half-past three.
Grownups may be less troublesome than boys,
But some contain the same amount of noise!
by Ray Romine Friday, February 1, 1952
A vision of undying beauty met mine lowly eyes,
My heart at tender gaze atood still: my soul in wild surmise
Did leap beyond this sordid life by earthly fence confined;
Her face undreamt of portals opened to my work-drugged mind.
But stay- -what is this craven feeling; trembling at our knees?
Why seems our eye to vacillate st sight of charms like these?
What mean we “man” dost this earth rule when woman’s glance, no more,
Will make the big, the brave, the strong quake deep in every pore?
When maiden small can lead a man, though he be twice her size,
To Hell and back, completely, by the rolling of her eyes?
by Ray Romine Friday, October 31, 1941
There’s no dream he can’t see;
No thing he won’t attempt.
From things that hobble me,
He seems to be exempt.
O how trade now for then- –
The timid for the bold
Self-confidence back when
I too was eight years old?
by Ray Romine Saturday, January 31, 1953
I really hope I’ll never see
A poem shedding like a tree.
While falling leaves fill some with bliss,
I’m afraid the poem
would
look
like
this!!
by Ray Romine Thursday, October 19, 1950
Shining, with compassion, down
On the frosted roofs of town;
Promising next summer’s yields
To the farmers’ snowed-in fields,
Winter stars, to me, unbend,
Making each man’s warmest friend.
Or is it because they’re clearer
Winter stars seem so much nearer?
by Ray Romine Tuesday, June 19, 1951
Though wild disorder strews the room,
Store the weapons; banish gloom.
Smile a little, if you can,
The struggle’s over; daddy’s man,
Glad that his ordeal is past,
Has his first haircut–at last!
by Ray Romine Tuesday, September 20, 1949
No parent finds it commonplace,
Who has one child or thirty,
That a six-year-old can wash his face.
And leave his hands so dirty.
by Ray Romine Thursday, January 10, 1952