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:
- To Mr. Thomas Southern, on his Birth-Day poem – Alexander Pope
- Before Day by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Praise Of Pindar In Imitation Of Horace His Second Ode Book 4
- Song—A Health to them that’s awa by Robert Burns
- Family Reunion by Sylvia Plath
- Robert Burns: Presentation Stanzas To Correspondents:
- Cruel Kindness by Rabindranath Tagore
- Twice Shy by Seamus Heaney
- Олег Бундур – Если умываться лень
- The Tree by Sara Teasdale
- Occupy the Wall Street by Sunil Sharma
- Happiness poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Limbo by Seamus Heaney
- woken_up_by_beautiful_dreams.html
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Одиночество
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
- Robert Burns: Ca’ The Yowes To The Knowes: Second Version
- Robert Burns: On The Seas And Far Away:
- Robert Burns: Inscription To Miss Graham Of Fintry:
- Robert Burns: Ode For General Washington’s Birthday :
- Robert Burns: It Was A’ For Our Rightfu’ King:
- Robert Burns: The Highland Widow’s Lament :
- Robert Burns: The Highland Balou:
- Robert Burns: Bannocks O’ Bear Meal:
- Robert Burns: Charlie, He’s My Darling:
- Robert Burns: The Lovely Lass O’ Inverness:
- Robert Burns: Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell: Of Glenriddell and Friars’ Carse.
- Robert Burns: On John Bushby, Esq., Tinwald Downs:
- Robert Burns: On Wm. Graham, Esq., Of Mossknowe:
- Robert Burns: On Capt. Lascelles:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On A Noted Coxcomb: Capt. Wm. Roddirk, of Corbiston.
- Robert Burns: Epistle From Esopus To Maria :
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Mr. Walter Riddell:
- Robert Burns: Pinned To Mrs. Walter Riddell’s Carriage:
- Robert Burns: The Epitaph:
- Robert Burns: Monody: On a lady famed for her Caprice.
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.