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:
- Николай Карамзин – Покой и слава
- Taking On by Satish Verma
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про стукача
- emotional bond by Raj Arumugam
- Виктор Гончаров – Опять пришла пора дождей
- The Rabbit Catcher by Sylvia Plath
- Fabliau Of Florida by Wallace Stevens
- Николай Некрасов – В тоске по юности моей
- The Hermit At Outermost House by Sylvia Plath
- Into My Heart an Air that Kills poem – A. E. Housman
- To Fanny poem – John Keats poems
- How Sweet I Roam’d by William Blake
- Валерий Брюсов – Песня девушки в тайге
- The Shadow of Crows by Ndue Ukaj
- Владимир Маяковский – В Советской России не может быть никакого царя… (Главполитпросвет №361)
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
- Владимир Костров – Мы на тяге ракетной берёзовых дров
- Владимир Костров – Душа, не кайся и не майся
- Владимир Костров – До чего нестерпимо и жёстко подуло
- Владимир Костров – Что может знать чужак
- Владимир Костров – Ботанический сад МГУ
- Владимир Костров – Бедное сердце болит спозаранку
- Владимир Костров – 1380 год
- Владислав Крапивин – Все спит в тропической ночи
- Владислав Крапивин – В южных морях и у севера дальнего
- Владислав Крапивин – Тяжелый толчок и вспышка у глаз
- Владислав Крапивин – Спокойная ночь
- Владислав Крапивин – Рыжий конь
- Владислав Крапивин – Под ветрами нам плыть
- Владислав Крапивин – На Диком Западе
- Владислав Крапивин – Маленький принц
- Владислав Крапивин – Когда тебя замучил враг
- Владислав Крапивин – Гонка
- Владислав Крапивин – Было все хорошо до недавней поры
- Владислав Крапивин – А по ночам у высокого плетня
- Владимир Вологдин – Не играйте, мальчики, в войну
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.