A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Crossing the frontier they were stopped in time,
Told, quite politely, they would have to wait:
Passports in order, nothing to declare
And surely holding hands was not a crime
Until they saw how, ranged across the gate,
All their most formidable friends were there.
Wearing his conscience like a crucifix,
Her father, rampant, nursed the Family Shame;
And, armed wlth their old-fashioned dinner-gong,
His aunt, who even when they both were six,
Had just to glance towards a childish game
To make them feel that they were doing wrong.
And both their mothers, simply weeping floods,
Her head-mistress, his boss, the parish priest,
And the bank manager who cashed their cheques;
The man who sold him his first rubber-goods;
Dog Fido, from whose love-life, shameless beast,
She first observed the basic facts of sex.
They looked as though they had stood there for hours;
For years; perhaps for ever. In the trees
Two furtive birds stopped courting and flew off;
While in the grass beside the road the flowers
Kept up their guilty traffic with the bees.
Nobody stirred. Nobody risked a cough.
Nobody spoke. The minutes ticked away;
The dog scratched idly. Then, as parson bent
And whispered to a guard who hurried in,
The customs-house loudspeakers with a bray
Of raucous and triumphant argument
Broke out the wedding march from Lohengrin.
He switched the engine off: “We must turn back.”
She heard his voice break, though he had to shout
Against a din that made their senses reel,
And felt his hand, so tense in hers, go slack.
But suddenly she laughed and said: “Get out!
Change seatsl Be quickl” and slid behind the wheel.
And drove the car straight at them with a harsh,
Dry crunch that showered both with scraps and chips,
Drove through them; barriers rising let them pass
Drove through and on and on, with Dad’s moustache
Beside her twitching still round waxen lips
And Mother’s tears still streaming down the glass.
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External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
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Poems in English
- Love by Robert Creeley
- Kore by Robert Creeley
- I Know A Man by Robert Creeley
- Goodbye by Robert Creeley
- Four Days In Vermont by Robert Creeley
- Clemente’s Images by Robert Creeley
- Ballad Of The Despairing Husband by Robert Creeley
- America by Robert Creeley
- Age by Robert Creeley
- A Wicker Basket by Robert Creeley
- A Token by Robert Creeley
- A Song by Robert Creeley
- Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning
- Cavalier Tunes: Marching Along by Robert Browning
- Cavalier Tunes: Give a Rouse by Robert Browning
- By The Fire-Side by Robert Browning
- Boot And Saddle by Robert Browning
- Bishop Blougram’s Apology by Robert Browning
- Before by Robert Browning
- Any Wife To Any Husband by Robert Browning
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Parallel Translations of Poetry
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Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.