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:
- I Am Me by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- Adolescence by P. K. Page
- Robert Burns: The Solemn League And Covenant:
- Ballad de soul by Neelam Sinha
- It Nods and Curtseys and Recovers poem – A. E. Housman
- Robert Burns: On Tam The Chapman:
- A Florida Ghost. by Sidney Lanier
- The Woman And The Flame
- The Do’set Militia by William Barnes
- I turn my head by Vladimir Marku
- Alone In The Woods by Stevie Smith
- Love’s Divinest Power by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- In Thoughtless Mind by Satish Verma
- Владимир Маяковский – Весна (Город зимнее снял)
- Thalidomide by Sylvia Plath
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 Маяковский – Не юбилейте
- Владимир Маяковский – Не вразброд, не случайно (Главполитпросвет)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не увлекайтесь нами
- Владимир Маяковский – Не только для того, чтоб тебя накормить… (Главполитпросвет №2)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не предаваясь “большевистским бредням” (Красный перец)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не пей сырой воды! (Главполитпросвет №230)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не эти правильно революцию празднуют… (РОСТА №399)
- Владимир Маяковский – Не эти правильно Октябрь празднуют… (РОСТА №398)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наврут полный короб… (Главполитпросвет №68)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наши поправки в англо-советский договор (Красный перец)
- Владимир Маяковский – Наше воскресенье
- Владимир Маяковский – Наш паровоз, стрелой лети
- Владимир Маяковский – Нас шахтер углем поздравит… (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нас потеснили… (РОСТА №337)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нападали белогвардейцы на Донецкий бассейн… (РОСТА №611)
- Владимир Маяковский – Нам бы только вот это воскресити… (РОСТА)
- Владимир Маяковский – Головотяпам
- Владимир Маяковский – Голос Красной площади
- Владимир Маяковский – Голодные! Пан Украину грабит… (РОСТА №106)
- Владимир Маяковский – Глупая история
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.