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:
- One Lovely Name by Walter Savage Landor
- Blue Evening by Rupert Brooke
- Disdain Returned by Thomas Carew
- Ballade Of Sleep poem – Andrew Lang poems
- In Abeyance by Satish Verma
- Love’s Paradox by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Низами Гянджеви – Там, где лик ты светлый явишь
- I Shall Forget
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Только на фронте
- Why Me? by Michael Yuan
- Ballade Of Amoureuse poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Владимир Орлов – Кому что снится?
- Mother Earth; Her Beauty And Her Destruction by TMBedell
- An Army Corps on the March. by Walt Whitman
- To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time by William Butler Yeats
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
- How Do You Produce Original Articles?
- Create Wealth With Creative Thinking
- How to Earn Money Writing and Selling Books
- In the Philippines, August Is a Celebration of Buwan Ng Wika
- Christopher Okigbo – Looking Back at His Short-lived Life and Taking Stock of His Poetic Legacy
- Mary’s Son – A Tale of Christmas – An Inspiring Read
- Most Memorable Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
- Proactive Responses to Recession – 7 Creative Ways to Make Extra Money With Real Estate
- Love Expression in Marriage
- Family Caregivers Have Promises to Keep
- Follow My Directions, Please: A Fun Christian Preschool Activity
- Creative Self Sabotage – 5 Favourite Sabotage Techniques Of Creative Artists & How To Avoid Them
- Is Resume Writing Really That Important?
- Literary Cubism – A Non-Structured Structure For Twenty-first Century Storytelling
- Los Able Minded Poets Music Review
- How to Choose a Federal Resume Writing Service
- The Truth About Propolis Benefits
- Insights Into History, Culture, & Creativity of Sri Lanka – Explore the Cultural Triangle
- The Columbian Exchange Beginning With Spanish Colonization
- 3 Inspirational Quotes That Encourage You to Be Yourself
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.