A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Year after year the princess lies asleep
Until the hundred years foretold are done,
Easily drawing her enchanted breath.
Caught on the monstrous thorns around the keep,
Bones of the youths who sought her, one by one
Rot loose and rattle to the ground beneath.
But when the Destined Lover at last shall come,
For whom alone Fortune reserves the prize
The thorns give way; he mounts the cobwebbed stair
Unerring he finds the tower, the door, the room,
The bed where, waking at his kiss she lies
Smiling in the loose fragrance of her hair.
That night, embracing on the bed of state,
He ravishes her century of sleep
And she repays the debt of that long dream;
Future and Past compose their vast debate;
His seed now sown, her harvest ripe to reap
Enact a variation on the theme.
For in her womb another princess waits,
A sleeping cell, a globule of bright dew.
Jostling their way up that mysterious stair,
A horde of lovers bursts between the gates,
All doomed but one, the destined suitor, who
By luck first reaches her and takes her there.
A parable of all we are or do!
The life of Nature is a formal dance
In which each step is ruled by what has been
And yet the pattern emerges always new
The marriage of linked cause and random chance
Gives birth perpetually to the unforeseen.
One parable for the body and the mind:
With science and heredity to thank
The heart is quite predictable as a pump,
But, let love change its beat, the choice is blind.
‘Now’ is a cross-roads where all maps prove blank,
And no one knows which way the cat will jump.
So here stand I, by birth a cross between
Determined pattern and incredible chance,
Each with an equal share in what I am.
Though I should read the code stored in the gene,
Yet the blind lottery of circumstance
Mocks all solutions to its cryptogram.
As in my flesh, so in my spirit stand I
When does this hundred years draw to its close?
The hedge of thorns before me gives no clue.
My predecessor’s carcass, shrunk and dry,
Stares at me through the spikes. Oh well, here goes!
I have this thing, and only this, to do.
A few random poems:
- The New Church Organ by Will McKendree Carleton
- Summer We Called Home by Vinita Agrawal
- Sonnet CIV by William Shakespeare
- Robert Burns: Talk Of Him That’s Far Awa:
- A Pact poem – Ezra Pound poems
- “The Curtains Now Are Drawn” by Thomas Hardy
- Point Of View by Shel Silverstein
- The Immortal Part poem – A. E. Housman
- Ольга Седакова – Прибавления к “Старым песням”
- Haiku: March by Monty Gilmer
- Владимир Степанов – Барби (Буква Б)
- Sonnet LV by William Shakespeare
- A little ink more or less! by Stephen Crane
- Bucolics by Sylvia Plath
- Verses On A Young Lady (playing harpsichord, and singing) by Tobias Smollett
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 Британишский – Карьеры лицеистов
- Владимир Британишский – Калмыцкое побережье Каспия
- Владимир Британишский – Как турмалин, что субстанцию сланца
- Владимир Британишский – Как из конного двора
- Владимир Британишский – Из рассказов отца
- Владимир Британишский – Иван Долгорукой
- Владимир Британишский – Итальянское путешествие
- Владимир Британишский – История, поколобродив тут
- Владимир Британишский – Историк и источник
- Владимир Британишский – Иона
- Владимир Британишский – Инициалы: Д.Я
- Владимир Британишский – И у нас однако ж был Лицей
- Владимир Британишский – Греч: Встреча с Батюшковым
- Владимир Британишский – Горы, горы – горизонты
- Владимир Британишский – Горный институт
- Владимир Британишский – Глухарь
- Владимир Британишский – Гердер в Риге
- Владимир Британишский – Геометрия
- Владимир Британишский – Философы! Не верьте островам
- Владимир Британишский – Фет в кирасирском полку
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.