A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
A Nation of trees, drab green and desolate grey
In the field uniform of modern wars,
Darkens her hills, those endless, outstretched paws
Of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away.
They call her a young country, but they lie:
She is the last of lands, the emptiest,
A woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry.
Without songs, architecture, history:
The emotions and superstitions of younger lands,
Her rivers of water drown among inland sands,
The river of her immense stupidity
Floods her monotonous tribes from Cairns to Perth.
In them at last the ultimate men arrive
Whose boast is not: “we live” but “we survive”,
A type who will inhabit the dying earth.
And her five cities, like five teeming sores,
Each drains her: a vast parasite robber-state
Where second hand Europeans pullulate
Timidly on the edge of alien shores.
Yet there are some like me turn gladly home
From the lush jungle of modern thought, to find
The Arabian desert of the human mind,
Hoping, if still from the deserts the prophets come,
Such savage and scarlet as no green hills dare
Springs in that waste, some spirit which escapes
The learned doubt, the chatter of cultured apes
Which is called civilization over there.

A few random poems:
- Sonnet X
- Олег Чупров – Подушка
- Robert Burns: Where Are The Joys I have Met?:
- Epitaph for Mr. Walter Riddell by Robert Burns
- Because We Never Practiced With The Escape Chamber poem – Alice Fulton
- Нина Воронель – Маме
- Sonnet CL by William Shakespeare
- Вера Павлова – Весть обызвестковалась
- Sunk Lyonesse by Walter de la Mare
- The Judges Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Ольга Берггольц – И вновь одна, совсем одна в дорогу
- Long-Legged Fly by William Butler Yeats
- Stanzas poem – John Keats poems
- Upon The Sight Of A Beautiful Picture Painted By Sir G. H. Beaumont, Bart by William Wordsworth
- In Praise Of England poem – Alfred Austin
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Defeat of Youth poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Decameron poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Alien poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Summer Stillness poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Stanzas poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Song of Poplars poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Social Amenities poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- September poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Scenes Of The Mind poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Revelation poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Return From Business poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Private Property poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Points And Lines poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Poem poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Panic poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Out Of The Window poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- On The Bus poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Minoan Porcelain poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Love Song poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- L’Après-Midi D’un Faune poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.