A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
What pleasures have great princes? These: to know
Themselves reputed mad with pride or power;
To speak few words — few words and short bring low
This ancient house, that city with flame devour;
To make old men, their father’s enemies,
Drunk on the vintage of the former age;
To have great painters show their mistresses
Naked to the succeeding time; engage
The cunning of able, treacherous ministers
To serve, despite themselves, the cause they hate,
And leave a prosperous kingdom to their heirs
Nursed by the caterpillars of the state;
To keep their spies in good men’s hearts; to read
The malice of the wise, and act betimes;
To hear the Grand Remonstrances of greed
Led by the pure; cheat justice of her crimes;
To beget worthless sons and, being old,
By starlight climb the battlements, and while
The pacing sentry hugs himself for cold,
Keep vigil like a lover, muse and smile,
And think, to see from the grim castle steep
The midnight city below rejoice and shine:
“There my great demon grumbles in his sleep
And dreams of his destruction, and of mine.”
A few random poems:
- Robert Burns: The Trogger.: Heron Election Ballad, No. IV.
- The Dawn Of American Literature
- The Choice by William Butler Yeats
- A Fixed Idea poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sweet Fire by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- By The Fire
- Ок Мельникова – Профессия рок-звезда
- Young Man’s Song by William Butler Yeats
- THE WHEELS by Satish Verma
- Light Or Sheäde by William Barnes
- it flows by Raj Arumugam
- Ирина Токмакова – Каша
- Николай Языков – Послание к Ф. И. Иноземцеву (Да сохранит тебя великий русский бог)
- Overnight at the Riverside Tower by Tu Fu
- Как жаль, что много лет назад
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: A Stanza Added In A Mason Lodge:
- Robert Burns: No Churchman Am I:
- Robert Burns: I’ll Go And Be A Sodger:
- Robert Burns: Raging Fortune:
- Robert Burns: Fickle Fortune: Fragment
- Robert Burns: Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]:
- Robert Burns Country: O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day:
- Robert Burns: In The Prospect Of Death:
- Robert Burns: First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The :
- Robert Burns: Paraphrase Of The First Psalm:
- Robert Burns: Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish:
- Robert Burns: Winter: A Dirge:
- Robert Burns: Mary Morison:
- Robert Burns: Bonie Peggy Alison:
- Robert Burns: Lass Of Cessnock Banks, The:
- Robert Burns: Here’s To Thy Health:
- Robert Burns Country: Ronalds Of The Bennals, The:
- Robert Burns: Handsome Nell:
- Erotic comics by Hanz Kovacq, porn comic books by known illustrators – continued
- Hitler, a poem about Hitler
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.