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:
- Three Songs Of Zahir U Din
- Альфред Теннисон – Смерть Старого Года
- The Hock-cart, or Harvest Home by Robert Herrick
- Come up from the Fields, Father. by Walt Whitman
- Those seven days by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Ольга Седакова – Легенда шестая
- Sappho To Her Girlfriends by Sappho
- Malmaison poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Омар Хайям – Двести лет проживешь, или тысячу лет
- The Self We Share by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Zero by Robert Creeley
- FREEDOM by Mac McGovern
- Louisa: After Accompanying Her On A Mountain Excursion by William Wordsworth
- The Beam In Grenley Church by William Barnes
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
- Владимир Британишский – Отечественные записки 1840-х годов
- Владимир Британишский – От низменного к неземному
- Владимир Британишский – Округлы и оголены
- Владимир Британишский – Океан с континентом воюют
- Владимир Британишский – Огонь
- Владимир Британишский – Очереди
- Владимир Британишский – О, растенья-пустынники дюнных песков
- Владимир Британишский – О чем размышляют
- Владимир Британишский – О человеке
- Владимир Британишский – Ностальгия
- Владимир Британишский – Но особенно снился мне вздыбленный мост
- Владимир Британишский – Никитенко
- Владимир Британишский – Несбывшееся
- Владимир Британишский – Некрасов
- Владимир Британишский – Не поселятся ли олени
- Владимир Британишский – Не избранностью, не особенностью
- Владимир Британишский – Наш учитель истории
- Владимир Британишский – На полпути в Илимск
- Владимир Британишский – На Марсовом поле
- Владимир Британишский – По волхову
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.