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:
- Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth by William Shakespeare
- Eclogue:–The Times by William Barnes
- The Home by Rabindranath Tagore
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Отчаяние
- Robert Burns: A Dream: Thoughts, words, and deeds, the Statute blames with reason; But surely Dreams were ne’er indicted Treason. On reading, in the public papers, the Laureate’s Ode, with the other parade of June 4th, 1786, the Author was no sooner dropt asleep, than he imagined himself transported to the Birth-day Levee: and, in his dreaming fancy, made the following Address:
- Weekend Glory by Maya Angelou
- Composed In The Valley Near Dover, On The Day Of Landing by William Wordsworth
- The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- A Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Visit by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Зинаида Александрова – Мне рукою машет маленький сынок
- Let The Weary World Go Round poem – Alfred Austin
- Сергей Михалков – Приехавшей из Африки девчушке
- The Leäne by William Barnes
- Psalm 07 poem – John Milton 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
- 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.