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:
- The Needle poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Владимир Британишский – Некрасов
- Keen, Fitful Gusts are Whisp’ring Here and There poem – John Keats poems
- Grief An’ Gladness by William Barnes
- Sow by Sylvia Plath
- Robert Burns: Inscribed On A Work Of Hannah More’s: Presented to the Author by a Lady.
- The Land by Rudyard Kipling
- Sonnet: Oh! How I Love, On A Fair Summer’s Eve poem – John Keats poems
- Earliest Spring by William Dean Howells
- Song—Auld Rob Morris by Robert Burns
- Sonnet. Written On A Blank Page In Shakespeare’s Poems, Facing ‘A Lover’s Complaint’ poem – John Keats poems
- Ольга Седакова – Успение
- Father by Philip Levine
- Robert Burns: A Health To Ane I Loe Dear:
- The Night
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
- Константин Батюшков – Мадригал Мелине, которая называла себя нимфою
- Константин Батюшков – Любовь в челноке
- Константин Бальмонт – Народные поверья
- Константин Бальмонт – Нам нравятся поэты
- Константин Бальмонт – Надгробные цветы
- Константин Бальмонт – Над морем
- Константин Бальмонт – На вершине
- Константин Бальмонт – На мотив псалма XVIII-гo
- Константин Бальмонт – На мотив экклезиаста
- Константин Бальмонт – На дальнем полюсе
- Константин Бальмонт – Мы шли в золотистом тумане
- Константин Бальмонт – Мы прячем, душим тонкой сетью лжи
- Константин Бальмонт – Музыка
- Константин Бальмонт – Мудрецы говорят
- Константин Бальмонт – Можно жить с закрытыми глазами
- Константин Бальмонт – Мост
- Константин Бальмонт – Морское дно
- Константин Бальмонт – Морская песня
- Константин Бальмонт – Морская пани
- Константин Бальмонт – Морозные узоры
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.