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:
- Liebestod
- Untitled XII by Yunus Emre
- Олег Григорьев – Кресло рассохлось
- Владимир Маяковский – Письмо Татьяне Яковлевой
- Ode For Ted by Sylvia Plath
- Least In A List
- Омар Хайям – Если все государства, вблизи и вдали
- A Roxbury Garden poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- On the Countess of Burlington Cutting Paper poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- At Queensferry by William Ernest Henley
- The Wheel Routs by William Barnes
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Негибнущий аромат
- The Day Is Gone, And All Its Sweets Are Gone poem – John Keats poems
- The Morning Half-Life Blues by Marge Piercy
- Rule I By Eric Mottram Stop Writing Literature You Garrulous Indian
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
- By the Spring, at Sunset by Vachel Lindsay
- Buddha by Vachel Lindsay
- Blanche Sweet by Vachel Lindsay
- Beyond the Moon by Vachel Lindsay
- At Mass by Vachel Lindsay
- An Indian Summer Day on the Prarie by Vachel Lindsay
- An Argument by Vachel Lindsay
- An Apology for the Bottle Volcanic by Vachel Lindsay
- Alone in the Wind, on the Prairie by Vachel Lindsay
- Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
- Above the Battle’s Front by Vachel Lindsay
- A Sense of Humor by Vachel Lindsay
- A Rhyme About an Electrical Advertising Sign by Vachel Lindsay
- A Prayer to All the Dead among Mine Own People by Vachel Lindsay
- A Net to Snare the Moonlight by Vachel Lindsay
- A Curse for Kings by Vachel Lindsay
- Vaishnavi Prakash by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Transcended Land Of Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Monastery Of Life by Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Castle By The River by Vaishnavi Prakash
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.