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:
- acts_of_love.html
- Grammer’s Shoes by William Barnes
- A Song by Thomas Carew
- Against Unworthy Praise by William Butler Yeats
- Sir Richard’s Song by Rudyard Kipling
- missing.html
- Владимир Маяковский – Помни о дне красной казармы! (РОСТА № 732)
- Robert Burns: Elegy On The Late Miss Burnet Of Monboddo :
- Ольга Берггольц – Старая гвардия
- A Gemini’s Hurt by Stephen Allen
- Огюст Барбье – Берега моря
- Listening poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Approach Of Summer by William Lisle Bowles
- Федор Сологуб – Лепестками завялыми
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
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
- Олег Бундур – Сложный предмет
- Олег Бундур – Сломанное дерево
- Олег Бундур – Скука
- Олег Бундур – Силачи
- Олег Бундур – Шляпа
- Олег Бундур – Школа живёт
- Олег Бундур – Семейный совет
- Олег Бундур – Счастливый
- Олег Бундур – Родня
- Олег Бундур – Разногласия
- Олег Бундур – Разговор
- Олег Бундур – Ранним утром
- Олег Бундур – Пёс
- Олег Бундур – Просьба
- Олег Бундур – Про затрещины
- Олег Бундур – Про любовь
- Олег Бундур – Про чемпионов
- Олег Бундур – Праздник встречи
- Олег Бундур – Поссорились
- Олег Бундур – После дождя
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.