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:
- Deer Enclosure by Wang Wei
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Forevermore. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- The Sanctuary by Sara Teasdale
- Ольга Берггольц – Я говорю
- A Dogs Love Is a Never Ending Game by Stacey Chillemi
- Владимир Маяковский – Номер 17
- nominalism_is_a_liquid_kuhi.html
- In Memory of W. B. Yeats by W. H. Auden
- Vocation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Invocation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Заболоцкий – Противостояние Марса
- Вера Павлова – Удобряю ресницы снами
- Minoan Porcelain
- Who’s Taller? by Shel Silverstein
- Sappho to Phaon (Ovid Heroid XV) poem – Alexander Pope
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 Маяковский – Не юбилейте
- Владимир Маяковский – Не вразброд, не случайно (Главполитпросвет)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не увлекайтесь нами
- Владимир Маяковский – Не только для того, чтоб тебя накормить… (Главполитпросвет №2)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не предаваясь “большевистским бредням” (Красный перец)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не пей сырой воды! (Главполитпросвет №230)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не эти правильно революцию празднуют… (РОСТА №399)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не эти правильно Октябрь празднуют… (РОСТА №398)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наврут полный короб… (Главполитпросвет №68)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наши поправки в англо-советский договор (Красный перец)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наше воскресенье
- Владимир Маяковский – Наш паровоз, стрелой лети
- Владимир Маяковский – Нас шахтер углем поздравит… (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нас потеснили… (РОСТА №337)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нападали белогвардейцы на Донецкий бассейн… (РОСТА №611)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нам бы только вот это воскресити… (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Головотяпам
- Владимир Маяковский – Голос Красной площади
- Владимир Маяковский – Голодные! Пан Украину грабит… (РОСТА №106)
- Владимир Маяковский – Глупая история
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.