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:
- Harry Ploughman poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Mae Marsh, Motion Picture Actress by Vachel Lindsay
- Never Sure Which You Are by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Robert Burns: On Seeing Mrs. Kemble In Yarico:
- What these girl means to me by Maphoto selokela
- Epitaph for Mr. W. Cruickshank by Robert Burns
- Вера Павлова – Твоя хладность
- Disillusionment Of Ten O’clock by Wallace Stevens
- Анатолий Жигулин – Лисенок
- Альфред Теннисон – Лорд Борлей
- Виктор Кирюшин – Небеса набухшей парусиною
- Юнна Мориц – За невлюбленными людьми
- oh no – not another love poem! by Raj Arumugam
- Sculpture of Debris on the Waterfront by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Arabian Night’s Entertainments by William Ernest Henley
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
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не хочу, чтоб свет узнал
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не люблю тебя
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не для ангелов и рая
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хоть давно изменила мне радость
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хаджи Абрек
- Выхожу один я на дорогу – Лермонтов: Стихотворение, читать текст стиха Михаила Лермонтова – Poetry Monster
- Михаил Лермонтов – Всевышний произнес свой приговор
- Михаил Лермонтов – Время сердцу быть в покое
- Михаил Лермонтов – Воля
- Михаил Лермонтов – Война
- Михаил Лермонтов – Вид гор из степей Козлова
- Михаил Лермонтов – Весна
- Михаил Лермонтов – Венеция
- Михаил Лермонтов – Вечер после дождя
- Михаил Лермонтов – Валерик
- Михаил Лермонтов – В рядах стояли безмолвной толпой
- Михаил Лермонтов – Чума в Саратове
- Михаил Лермонтов – Что толку жить!.. Без приключений
- Михаил Лермонтов – Черкесы
- Михаил Лермонтов – Челнок (Воет ветр и свистит пред недальной грозой)
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.