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:
- The Thraldom
- Нина Воронель – Август
- Carry Her Over the Water by W H Auden
- Once By The Pacific by Robert Frost
- Red Roses by Nithin Purple
- Как привить ребенку любовь к чтению: советы и рекомендации – Poetry Monster
- Наум Коржавин – Двадцатые годы
- The Space Heater by Sharon Olds
- The Frivolity of Dreaming by Mahi Chauhan
- Scots Prologue for Mr. Sutherland by Robert Burns
- Freedom by Walter William Safar
- haiku
- Владимир Орлов – Как Таппи научился лаять
- The Parting
- The Eve Of Saint Mark. A Fragment poem – John Keats 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
- An Aquarium poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Afternoon Rain in State Street poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Afternoon Rain in State Street poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Aftermath poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Aftermath poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- After Hearing a Waltz poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- After Hearing a Waltz poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Absence poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Absence poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Winter Ride poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Winter Ride poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Tulip Garden poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Tale of Starvation poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Tale of Starvation poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Roxbury Garden poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Roxbury Garden poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Petition poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Petition poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A London Thoroughfare. 2 A.M. poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A London Thoroughfare. 2 A.M. poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
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.