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:
- Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein
- “While with fond rapture and amaze” by Tobias Smollett
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не дыми, голова трещит
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама Резинотрест
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Хлоя
- Новелла Матвеева – Отражённым светом
- Иван Крылов – Лиса-строитель (Басня)
- Life-companion by Shailendra Chauhan
- A Night In June poem – Alfred Austin
- in praise of the moon by Raj Arumugam
- Из всех искусств кинематограф
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Смерть
- A Winter Night by Sara Teasdale
- At the Top of My voice by Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Николай Карамзин – Часто здесь в юдоли мрачной
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
- Leaving Early by Sylvia Plath
- Last Words by Sylvia Plath
- Landowners by Sylvia Plath
- Insolent Storm Strikes At The Skull by Sylvia Plath
- In Plaster by Sylvia Plath
- In Midas’ Country by Sylvia Plath
- Go Get The Goodly Squab by Sylvia Plath
- For A Fatherless Son by Sylvia Plath
- Flute Notes From A Reedy Pond by Sylvia Plath
- Faun by Sylvia Plath
- Family Reunion by Sylvia Plath
- Fable Of The Rhododendron Stealers by Sylvia Plath
- Epitaph In Three Parts by Sylvia Plath
- Epitaph For Fire And Flower by Sylvia Plath
- Electra On Azalea Path by Sylvia Plath
- Dream With Clam-Diggers by Sylvia Plath
- Doom Of Exiles by Sylvia Plath
- Dirge For A Joker by Sylvia Plath
- Death & Co. by Sylvia Plath
- Crossing The Water by Sylvia Plath
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.