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:
- Meditation With Feet
- June by William Cullen Bryant
- Владимир Маяковский – Смотри, рабочий! Вот о чем сегодня речь (Главполитпросвет №166)
- The Benefactors by Rudyard Kipling
- Олег Бундур – Играю в школьном спектакле
- Sonnet Of Motherhood XL poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- Called Into Play poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- The Sudden Light And The Trees by Stephen Dunn
- The Poet poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Валерий Брюсов – Из песен Мальдуна
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я видел тень блаженства
- Love Of Life poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Степанов – Следом за летом осень
- A Human Being Needs Strong Tea
- Travel to Infinite Places by Michael Levy
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 Great Palaces Of Versailles by Rita Dove
- Teach Us To Number Our Days by Rita Dove
- Primer by Rita Dove
- Persephone, Falling by Rita Dove
- Mushrooms by Rina Ferrarelli
- Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Return To Vienna by Rita Dove
- Lines Composed on the Body Politic by Rita Dove
- Lady Freedom Among Us by Rita Dove
- I hear the roar of a Harley… by River Urke
- Heart To Heart by Rita Dove
- Hades’ Pitch by Rita Dove
- Fifth Grade Autobiography by Rita Dove
- Exit by Rita Dove
- Dawn Revisited by Rita Dove
- Chocolate by Rita Dove
- Cavern in Paradise by Rita Odessa Villaruel
- Broccoli by Rina Ferrarelli
- Birth Of A Flower by Riss Ryker
- American Smooth by Rita Dove
- Amarene by Rina Ferrarelli
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.