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:
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Sea God and the wind rose by Vinko Kalinić
- Hymn To Aphrodite by Sappho
- A First Confession by William Butler Yeats
- The Dinner-Party poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- WALKING INTO YOU by Satish Verma
- High Talk by William Butler Yeats
- Николай Тихонов – Инд
- Prospect by Sylvia Plath
- For the Young Who Want To by Marge Piercy
- word of God by Raj Arumugam
- In the New Garden in all the Parts. by Walt Whitman
- Stretcher Case by Siegfried Sassoon
- Landowners by Sylvia Plath
- The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay
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
- River poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Rising Early poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- Retake, Union Square poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Requiem For A Bartender’s Dream poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Repentance poem – Ygor Noblott poems | Poetry Monster
- Prisoners poem – Yusef Komunyakaa poems | Poetry Monster
- Potions poem – Yusef Komunyakaa poems | Poetry Monster
- Once Upon A Wandering Mind poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- On A May Glory-A Welcome Song poem – Nithin Purple poems | Poetry Monster
- Now, What is Poetry? poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- Night poem – Yahya Kemal Beyatli poems | Poetry Monster
- My Father’s Love Letters poem – Yusef Komunyakaa poems | Poetry Monster
- Mules poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
- Love’s Confession poem – Yuvraj Johri poems | Poetry Monster
- Life poem – Yahya Kemal Beyatli poems | Poetry Monster
- La Vie Boheme poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- Journal Entry poem – Ysabelle Moriarty poems | Poetry Monster
- [ I think I’m there? ] poem – Ygor Noblott poems | Poetry Monster
- Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee poem – Zameer Careem poems | Poetry Monster
- Heartbreak at 2 A.M. poem – Yuvraj Johri poems | Poetry Monster
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.