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:
- Goodbye by Robert Creeley
- Юлия Друнина – В голом парке коченеют клёны
- Владимир Маяковский – Наши поправки в англо-советский договор (Красный перец)
- The Need To Love
- The Squirrel by Todd H. C. Fischer
- The Indian To His Love by William Butler Yeats
- The Dead Woman by Pablo Neruda, La Muerta
- Some Last Questions by W. S. Merwin
- I have fallen into unconsciousness by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- How…? by Nizar Sartawi
- Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- A Sermon
- La Vita Nuova by Weldon Kees
- Paradise Lost: Book 05 poem – John Milton poems
- Song of Poplars poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
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
- Олег Бундур – Не боюсь
- Олег Бундур – Настроение
- Олег Бундур – Наши неприятности
- Олег Бундур – Нарасхват
- Олег Бундур – На высоком берегу
- Олег Бундур – На связи
- Олег Бундур – Летняя гроза
- Олег Бундур – Лагуна
- Олег Бундур – Кулинар
- Олег Бундур – Кто идет?
- Олег Бундур – Кто делает весну?
- Олег Бундур – Красивая мама
- Олег Бундур – Копуша
- Олег Бундур – Колыбельная для мамы
- Олег Бундур – Когда я вернусь
- Олег Бундур – Клубника созрела
- Олег Бундур – Каменный берег
- Олег Бундур – Как папа прогуливал школу
- Олег Бундур – Как мама машину выбирала
- Олег Бундур – Из магазина
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.