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:
- Юрий Левитанский – Диалог у новогодней елки
- Владимир Маяковский – Notre-Dame
- When You Go Away by W. S. Merwin
- “Because I failed, shall I asperse the End” poem – Alfred Austin
- The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore
- Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year by Raymond Carver
- Илья Эренбург – Легкий сон
- Written In Very Early Youth by William Wordsworth
- Valhalla
- The Request
- Poetry and the Power of Words
- E.P. Ode Pour L’election De Son Sepulchre poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Hedger by William Barnes
- We know this much by Sappho
- Sonnet III: With how sad steps by Sir Philip Sidney
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
- Альфред де Мюссе – Намуна
- Альфред де Мюссе – Майская ночь
- Альфред де Мюссе – Люси
- Альфред де Мюссе – Как лепестки весеннего цветка
- Альфред де Мюссе – Ива (Как придется мне покинуть свет)
- Альфред де Мюссе – Друзья мои! Когда умру я
- Альфред де Мюссе – Да, женщины, тут нет ошибки
- Альфред де Мюссе – Что так усиленно сердце больное
- Алексей Жемчужников – Знакомая картина
- Алексей Жемчужников – Зимнее чувство
- Алексей Жемчужников – Земля
- Алексей Жемчужников – Заметки о некоторой публицистике
- Алексей Жемчужников – Заколдованный месяц
- Алексей Жемчужников – Забудь их шумное волненье
- Алексей Жемчужников – За днями ненастными с темными тучами
- Алексей Жемчужников – Я музыкальным чувством обладаю
- Алексей Жемчужников – Всем хлеба
- Алексей Жемчужников – Возрождение
- Алексей Жемчужников – Воспоминание в деревне о Петербурге
- Алексей Жемчужников – Весна
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.