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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Современная идиллия
- Bobber by Raymond Carver
- 永遠
- Kumarakom (after the boat tragedy) by Shreekumar Varma
- Images by Mary Etta Metcalf
- In Memoriam
- Robert Burns: Sweet Tibbie Dunbar:
- A Soldier by Robert Frost
- Robert Burns: Robin Shure In Hairst:
- Николай Заболоцкий – Смерть врача
- A Noun Sentence by Mahmoud Darwish
- Drying Clothes poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- Others may Praise what They Like. by Walt Whitman
- Шекспир – Пример тебе подобной красоты – Сонет 84
- Ольга Берггольц – Песня о ленинградской матери
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
- Song—A Fiddler in the North by Robert Burns
- Song—A Bottle and Friend by Robert Burns
- Sketch—New Year’s Day, 1790 by Robert Burns
- Sketch in Verse, inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox by Robert Burns
- Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry by Robert Burns
- Second Epistle to J. Lapraik by Robert Burns
- Second Epistle to Davie by Robert Burns
- Scots, Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled by Robert Burns
- Scots Prologue for Mr. Sutherland by Robert Burns
- Sappho Redivivus: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns
- Rhyming Reply to a Note from Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
- Reply to an Announcement by J. Rankine by Robert Burns
- Reply to a Trimming Epistle, received from a Tailor by Robert Burns
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- Remorse: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- Prologue, spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Prologue spoken at the Theatre of Dumfries by Robert Burns
- Prayer—O Thou Dread Power by Robert Burns
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.