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:
- Aquatic Nocturne by Sylvia Plath
- Young mother by Sunil Sharma
- STEPPING OUT by Satish Verma
- Brookwell by William Barnes
- Низами Гянджеви – Искендер-наме – Страница 15 из 15
- Today by Siegfried Sassoon
- Book First [Introduction-Childhood and School Time] by William Wordsworth
- The Indian Upon God by William Butler Yeats
- A River Flows Underground by Satish Verma
- Speaking the Language of Deer by Martin Willitts Jr.
- Маяковский – Послушайте: Стих Владимира Маяковского – Читать текст стихотворения на Poetry Monster
- Far Out by Philip Larkin
- Валерий Брюсов – Il bacio
- Шекспир – Весну не перельешь в хрусталь – Сонет 6
- Олег Бундур – Без меня
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
- Robert Burns: Lines On The Commemoration Of Rodney’s Victory:
- Robert Burns: Thanksgiving For A National Victory:
- Robert Burns: Lines Inscribed In A Lady’s Pocket Almanac:
- Robert Burns: On Commissary Goldie’s Brains:
- Robert Burns: The True Loyal Natives:
- Robert Burns: The Soldier’s Return:
- Robert Burns: Meg O’ The Mill : Another Version
- Robert Burns: Meg O’ The Mill:
- Robert Burns: Lovely Young Jessie:
- Robert Burns: Lord Gregory:
- Robert Burns: Open The Door To Me, Oh:
- Robert Burns: Wandering Willie: Revised Version
- Robert Burns: Wandering Willie: First Version
- Robert Burns: Sonnet Written On The Author’s Birthday, : On hearing a Thrush sing in his Morning Walk.
- Robert Burns: Braw Lads O’ Galla Water:
- Robert Burns: On Politics:
- Robert Burns: Poortith Cauld And Restless Love:
- Robert Burns: A Tippling Ballad: On the Duke of Brunswick’s Breaking up his Camp, and the defeat of the Austrians, by Dumourier, November 1792.
- Robert Burns: Here’s A Health To Them That’s Awa:
- Robert Burns: Duncan Gray:
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.