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:
- The Gardener LI: Then Finish the Last Song by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Hyaenas by Rudyard Kipling
- Ольга Высотская – Детский сад
- Buddha at Kamakura by Rudyard Kipling
- The Old Cumberland Beggar by William Wordsworth
- The Gardener LXXXIII: She Dwelt on the Hillside by Rabindranath Tagore
- said, unsaid by tulip
- A Token by Robert Creeley
- An April Love poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Высоцкий – Сыт я по горло, до подбородка
- Between the Dusk of a Summer Night by William Ernest Henley
- Иван Бунин – Балагула
- Омар Хайям – Из края в край мы держим к смерти путь
- Как тамада я выступаю в роли теоретика
- To The Lord Falkland
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
- Night At The Marina by Shreekumar Varma
- Hymn by Sidney Godolphin
- Lord when the wise men came from farr by Sidney Godolphin
- Kumarakom (after the boat tragedy) by Shreekumar Varma
- Hymn by Sidney Godolphin
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
- Statistic by Shivam Pandya
- Projector by Shreekumar Varma
- Noe more unto my thoughts appeare by Sidney Godolphin
- Night At The Marina by Shreekumar Varma
- Lord when the wise men came from farr by Sidney Godolphin
- Kumarakom (after the boat tragedy) by Shreekumar Varma
- Hymn by Sidney Godolphin
- Cloris, it is not thy disdaine by Sidney Godolphin
- Night by Sidney Lanier
- My Springs by Sidney Lanier
- Martha Washington by Sidney Lanier
- Marsh Hymns by Sidney Lanier
- Laus Mariae by Sidney Lanier
- Laughter In The Senate by Sidney Lanier
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.