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:
- Bereavement by William Lisle Bowles
- Since We Must Die poem – Alfred Austin
- Fancy Dress by Siegfried Sassoon
- Lover’s Gifts XVIII: Your Days by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владимир Набоков – Какое сделал я дурное дело
- On The City Wall
- Here, Sailor. by Walt Whitman
- Кондратий Рылеев – Как солнце ни блестит и как оно ни светит
- Robert Burns: A Fiddler In The North:
- Николай Языков – С. П. Шевыреву (Тебе хвала, и честь, и слава)
- Wings
- Robert Burns: Epistle To Dr. Blacklock: Ellisland, 21st Oct., 1789
- Константин Бальмонт – Музыка
- An Elegy On The Glory Of Her Sex, Mrs Mary Blaize by Oliver Goldsmith
- Robert Burns: Her Answer:
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 Eagle That is Forgotten by Vachel Lindsay
- The Drunkards in the Street by Vachel Lindsay
- The Dandelion by Vachel Lindsay
- The Cornfields by Vachel Lindsay
- The Congo: A Study of the Negro Race by Vachel Lindsay
- The City That Will Not Repent by Vachel Lindsay
- The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay
- The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken by Vachel Lindsay
- The Booker Washington Trilogy by Vachel Lindsay
- The Beggar’s Valentine by Vachel Lindsay
- The Bankrupt Peace-Maker by Vachel Lindsay
- The Amaranth by Vachel Lindsay
- The Alchemist’s Petition by Vachel Lindsay
- Sweethearts of the Year by Vachel Lindsay
- Sweet Briars of the Stairways by Vachel Lindsay
- Sunshine by Vachel Lindsay
- Star of My Heart by Vachel Lindsay
- St. Francis of Assisi by Vachel Lindsay
- Springfield Magical by Vachel Lindsay
- Shakespeare by Vachel Lindsay
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.