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:
- A Song at Weicheng. by Wang Wei
- Riden Hwome At Night by William Barnes
- Translated from Geibel poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Invocation by Marilyn Hacker
- Before They Were Mothers by Sappho
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
- Robert Burns: Extempore In The Court Of Session:
- Cell Mate
- For Roman Polanski by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Attente by Martine Morillon-Carreau
- Robert Burns: Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]:
- Нина Воронель – Ломбардная баллада
- The Voice by Sara Teasdale
- Rivulose poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
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
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 05 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 04 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 02 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Ecco Mormorar L’onde (Now The Waves Murmur) by Torquato Tasso
- Vegetable Swallow by Tristan Tzara
- To Make A Dadist Poem by Tristan Tzara
- The Last Breath of a Ship by Tri Tran
- The Great Lament Of My Obscurity Three by Tristan Tzara
- Proclamation Without Pretension by Tristan Tzara
- Cinema Calendar Of The Abstract Heart; 09 by Tristan Tzara
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.