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.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка про купцову нацию, мужика и кооперацию
- Ode On A Distant Prospect Of Eton College by Thomas Gray
- Impromptu on Mrs. Riddell’s Birthday by Robert Burns
- Владимир Британишский – Из рассказов отца
- Яков Полонский – Письмо
- An Invitation
- O Fool by Rabindranath Tagore
- Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Morale by Sunil Sharma
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Казалось, осталось недолго
- Николай Гумилев – Орел Синдбада
- Валерий Брюсов – Городу дифирамб
- Владимир Бенедиктов – С могучей страстию в мучительной борьбе
- Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems
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
- Виктор Гюго – Без книги в мире ночь и ум людской убог
- Виктор Гусев – Сестра
- Виктор Гусев – Песня о Москве
- Виктор Гусев – Октябрьский смотр
- Виктор Гончаров – Скоро, скоро я домой поеду
- Виктор Гончаров – Прощайте, спасибо
- Виктор Гончаров – Опять пришла пора дождей
- Виктор Гончаров – Не знаю, что делать с душою
- Виктор Гончаров – Когда тебя бессонной ночью
- Виктор Гончаров – Дождь
- Виктор Гончаров – Больной, как будто бы гранату
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чатырдаг
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Буря и тишь
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Борьба
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Богач
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Близ берегов
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Благодарю Вас за цветы
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бивак
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бездна
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Бегун морей дорогою безбрежной
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.