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:
- Ольга Берггольц – Два стихотворения дочерям
- The Death of Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Catching the Rain by Raj Napal
- Constantia039s Song
- Владимир Высоцкий – О конце войны
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road by Rabindranath Tagore
- To a Beloved Child by Patrick Pearse
- Robert Burns: Bessy And Her Spinnin’ Wheel:
- Sonnet 154: The little Love-god lying once asleep by William Shakespeare
- Lines Composed on the Body Politic by Rita Dove
- gratitudes_of_a_dozen_roses.html
- Monsters under the bed by Thomas J Camp
- Never Bite A Married Woman On The Thigh by Shel Silverstein
- Олег Бундур – Не ходите ночью
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
- To Gnedich poem – Alexander Pushkin
- To The Don poem – Alexander Pushkin
- To Natasha poem – Alexander Pushkin
- To Lily poem – Alexander Pushkin
- To… (Kern) poem – Alexander Pushkin
- To Chadaev poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Thou and You poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The wondrous moment of our meeting… poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Wish poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Water-Nymph poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Upas Tree poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Talisman poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Singer poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Prophet poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Night poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Name poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Flower poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Drowned Man poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Dream poem – Alexander Pushkin
- The Vision poem – Alexander Pushkin
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.