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:
- Николай Заболоцкий – Начало зимы
- Аля Кудряшева – Когда наступает вечер
- Новелла Матвеева – О юморе
- A HYMN TO VENUS AND CUPID by Robert Herrick
- Николай Карамзин – Дурной вкус
- The Bangle Sellers by Sarojini Naidu
- Robert Burns: The Bonie Lass Of Albany:
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- message from the sun by Raj Arumugam
- Mine Sweepers by Rudyard Kipling
- A Good Boy by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Composition by Peter Cooley
- Robert Burns: First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The :
- Владимир Британишский – Читая Ремарка
- The General Public by Stephen Vincent Benet
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 Высоцкий – Песня про стукача
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про правого инсайда
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про первые ряды
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про белого слона
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня парня у обелиска космонавтам
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о Земле
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о вещем Олеге
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о сумасшедшем доме
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о штангисте
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о погибшем лётчике
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о конькобежце на короткие дистанции, которого заставили бежать на длинную
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня о двух красивых автомобилях
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня микрофона
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня лётчика
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня конченого человека
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня из радиоспектакля “Зелёный фургон”
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Геращенко
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Билла Сиггера
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня автомобилиста
- Владимир Высоцкий – Живу я в лучшем из миров
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.