A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Reading the menu at the morning service:
– Iced Venusberg perhaps, or buttered bum;
Orders the usual sex-ersatz, and, nervous,
Glances around; Will she or won’t she come?
The congregation dissected into pews
Gulping their strip teas in the luminous cavern
Agape’s sacamental berry stews;
The nickel-plated light and clatter of heaven
Receive him, temporary Tantalus
Into the Lookingglassland’s firescape.
Suckled on Jungfraumilch his eyes discuss,
The werwolf twins, their mock Sabellian rape.
This is their time to reap the standing scorn,
Blonde Rumina’s crop. Beneath her leafless tree
Ripe-rumped she lolls and clasps the plenteous horn.
Cool customers who defy his Trinity
Feel none the less, and thrill, ur-vater Fear
Caged in the son. For, though this ghost behave
Experienced daughters recognize King Leer:
Lot also had his daughters in a cave.
Full sail the proud three-decker sandwiches
With the eye-fumbled priestesses repass;
On their swan lake the enchanted icecreams freeze,
The amorous fountain prickles in the glass
And at the introit of this mass emotion
She comes, she comes, a balanced pillar of blood,
Guides through the desert, divides the sterile ocean,
Brings sceptic Didymus his berserk food,
Sits deftly, folding elegant thighs, and takes
Her time. She skins her little leather hands,
Conscious that wavering towards her like tame snakes
The polyp eyes converge…. The prophet stands
Dreading the answer from her burning bush:
This unconsuming flame, the outlaw’s blow,
Plague, exodus, Sinai, ruptured stones that gush,
God’s telegram: Dare Now! Let this people go!
A few random poems:
- An Exiles Farewell
- Lapis Lazuli by William Butler Yeats
- Альфред де Мюссе – Слова отчаянья прекрасней всех других
- Guenevere by Sara Teasdale
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Привет старому 1858-му году
- Sonnet 107: Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul by William Shakespeare
- XV: Some Verses: Ciprian’s Smyling by William Alexander
- Perseus by Robert Hayden
- Evening wind by Yosa Buson
- The Goldsmith by Siegfried Sassoon
- On A Good Man (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Низами Гянджеви – Я бросил молодость в пожар моей любви
- Эмиль Верхарн – Я радость бытия принес тебе в подарок
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Farmhouse on the Wei River by Wang Wei
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
- Great-Heart by Rudyard Kipling
- Gethsemane by Rudyard Kipling
- Gentlmen-Rankers by Rudyard Kipling
- Gehazi by Rudyard Kipling
- Fuzzy-Wuzzy by Rudyard Kipling
- Ford o’ Kabul River by Rudyard Kipling
- For To Admire by Rudyard Kipling
- For All We Have And Are by Rudyard Kipling
- Follow Me ‘ome by Rudyard Kipling
- Farewell and adieu… by Rudyard Kipling
- Evarra And His Gods by Rudyard Kipling
- England’s Answer by Rudyard Kipling
- Eddi’s Service by Rudyard Kipling
- Doctors by Rudyard Kipling
- Divided Destinies by Rudyard Kipling
- Delilah by Rudyard Kipling
- Dedication by Rudyard Kipling
- Dane-Geld by Rudyard Kipling
- Cuckoo Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Cruisers by Rudyard Kipling
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.