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:
- In My Own Shire, If I Was Sad poem – A. E. Housman
- Sonnet X
- Николай Заболоцкий – Когда вдали угаснет свет дневной
- Hero-Worship poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Epitaph in a Church-Yard in Charleston, South Carolina poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Жан де Лафонтен – Фортуна и Дитя
- O Nightingale! Thou Surely Art by William Wordsworth
- Владислав Ходасевич – Окна во двор
- The Fairy Bridal-Hymn by Vachel Lindsay
- Cinquain on Love: Touch by Monty Gilmer
- The Fable by Yvor Winters
- Colophon poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Ольга Седакова – Деревья, сильный ветер
- Николай Гумилев – Живала Ниагара
- The Germans On The Heighs Of Hochheim by William Wordsworth
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
- Imitated From The Japanese by William Butler Yeats
- I Am Of Ireland by William Butler Yeats
- Hound Voice by William Butler Yeats
- His Phoenix by William Butler Yeats
- His Dream by William Butler Yeats
- His Confidence by William Butler Yeats
- His Bargain by William Butler Yeats
- High Talk by William Butler Yeats
- Her Vision In The Wood by William Butler Yeats
- Her Triumph by William Butler Yeats
- Her Praise by William Butler Yeats
- Her Dream by William Butler Yeats
- Her Anxiety by William Butler Yeats
- He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead by William Butler Yeats
- He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven by William Butler Yeats
- He Thinks Of Those Who Have Spoken Evil Of His Beloved by William Butler Yeats
- He Tells Of The Perfect Beauty by William Butler Yeats
- He Tells Of A Valley Full Of Lovers by William Butler Yeats
- The Cat And The Moon by William Butler Yeats
- The Cap And Bells by William Butler Yeats
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.