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:
- Ode To Apollo poem – John Keats poems
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Знакомое место
- The Terms In Which I Think Of Reality poem – Allen Ginsberg
- The place that is dark without space and the moonlight off the pond (The Gray) by Olivia Lewis
- The Interpreter poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Daffodil Dreams by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Romantic Hour by Suuk Simon Subinimah
- Олег Сердобольский – У сосульки льет из носа
- Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee poem – Zameer Careem poems | Poetry Monster
- The Trial Of A Man by Sylvia Plath
- The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems
- Виталий Кодрян – 31 августа
- 我被包围了
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- Николай Языков – Благодарю вас за цветы
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
- Poem (The lump of coal my parents teased) by William Matthews
- Beautiful Balmoral by William Topaz McGonagall
- Beautiful Balmerino by William Topaz McGonagall
- Baldovan by William Topaz McGonagall
- Attempted Assassination of the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall
- Annie Marshall the Foundling by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Ode to the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Autumn Reverie by William Topaz McGonagall
- An All-Night Sea Fight by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Adventure in the Life of King James V of Scotland by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan by William Topaz McGonagall
- Adventures of King Robert the Bruce by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Mr Murphy and the Blue Ribbon Army by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Mr J. Graham Henderson, The World’s Fair Judge by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Henry M. Stanley by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tribute to Dr. Murison by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of the Sea by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of Elsinore by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Tale of Christmas Eve by William Topaz McGonagall
- A Summary History of Lord Clive by William Topaz McGonagall
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.