A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.
Words scored upon a bone,
Scratched in despair or rage —
Nine hundred years have gone;
Now, in another age,
They burn with passion on
A scholar’s tranquil page.
The scholar takes his pen
And turns the bone about,
And writes those words again.
Once more they seethe and shout
And through a human brain
Undying hate rings out.
“I loved her when a maid;
I loathe and love the wife
That warms another’s bed:
Let him beware his life!”
The scholar’s hand is stayed;
His pen becomes a knife
To grave in living bone
The fierce archaic cry.
He sits and reads his own
Dull sum of misery.
A thousand years have flown
Before that ink is dry.
And, in a foreign tongue,
A man, who is not he,
Reads and his heart is wrung
This ancient grief to see,
And thinks: When I am dung,
What bone shall speak for me?
A few random poems:
- Handy Man by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Маяковский – Праздновать способы разные, как мы праздник отпразднуем? (РОСТА № 383)
- Among The Sandhills
- My Heart Is Heavy by Sara Teasdale
- Hallowed Pleäces by William Barnes
- Такахама Кёси – Мацумуси пищит
- First Anniversary poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Юрий Коринец – Март
- Федор Тютчев – Как птичка, раннею зарей
- Владимир Набоков – Какое сделал я дурное дело
- To… (Kern) poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Inscription For A Stone Erected At The Sowing Of A Grove Of Oaks At Chillington, Anno 1791 by William Cowper
- Михаил Кузмин – Живется нам не плохо
- Омар Хайям – Не зарекайся пить бесценных гроздий сок
- The Woodlands by William Barnes
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
- In the Home Stretch by Robert Frost
- In Neglect by Robert Frost
- In Hardwood Groves by Robert Frost
- In a Vale by Robert Frost
- In a Disused Graveyard by Robert Frost
- Immigrants by Robert Frost
- II. The Pauper Witch of Grafton by Robert Frost
- I Will Sing You One-O by Robert Frost
- I. The Witch of Coös by Robert Frost
- Hyla Brook by Robert Frost
- Home Burial by Robert Frost
- Hannibal by Robert Frost
- Good Hours by Robert Frost
- Good-by and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
- Going for Water by Robert Frost
- Ghost House by Robert Frost
- Gathering Leaves by Robert Frost
- Fragmentary Blue by Robert Frost
- For Once, Then, Something by Robert Frost
- Flower-Gathering by Robert Frost
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.