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:
- Grace Before Song poem – Ezra Pound poems
- A Zong Of Harvest Hwome by William Barnes
- My Friend, Come In These Rains — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Song. A Beautiful Mistress. by Thomas Carew
- Владимир Британишский – В Прикаспии
- Spring Day poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- When the universe speaks by Preeth Nambiar
- Creativity in America and How Italians Can Learn From American Ingenuity
- Love Of Life poem – Alfred Austin
- Let The Weary World Go Round poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Маяковский – Непобедимое оружие
- Complaint by William Carlos Williams
- Paradise Lost: Book 01 poem – John Milton poems
- Олег Бундур – Лагуна
- Three Portraits Of Prince Charles poem – Andrew Lang poems
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
- Erin, Oh Erin by Thomas Moore
- Enigma by Thomas Moore
- Echo by Thomas Moore
- Drink To Her by Thomas Moore
- Drink of This Cup by Thomas Moore
- Did Not by Thomas Moore
- Dialogue Between a Sovereign and a One-Pound Note by Thomas Moore
- Desmond’s Song by Thomas Moore
- Dear Harp of my Country by Thomas Moore
- Cotton and Corn by Thomas Moore
- Come, Send Round the Wine by Thomas Moore
- Come, Rest in this Bosom by Thomas Moore
- Come O’er the Sea by Thomas Moore
- By That Lake, Whose Gloomy Shore by Thomas Moore
- Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms by Thomas Moore
- Befire the Battle by Thomas Moore
- Avenging and Bright by Thomas Moore
- At the Mid Hour of Night by Thomas Moore
- As Vanquish’d Erin by Thomas Moore
- As Slow Our Ship by Thomas Moore
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.