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: Verses To Clarinda: Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses.
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Владимир Маяковский – Было с белым много дел… (Главполитпросвет №44)
- Наум Коржавин – Песня лейб-казачьей сотни
- Sonnet Of Motherhood VI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- A Point Of Honour poem – Alfred Austin
- Кондратий Рылеев – Переводчику «Андромахи»
- The Dreadful Has Already Happened by Mark Strand
- Илья Зданевич – Пабло Пикассо
- Nature’s Law: A Poem by Robert Burns
- English Poetry. Edna St. Vincent Millay. Assault. Эдна Сент-Винсент Миллей.
- Sonnet CVIII by William Shakespeare
- My rains by Vinko Kalinic
- The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night by Rabindranath Tagore
- Evening in a Sugar Orchard by Robert Frost
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
- Muse poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Morpheus poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Lyric written in 1830 poem – Alexander Pushkin
- I’ve Lived To See Desire Vanish poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Impromtu On Ogareva poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Imitation poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Goblins Of The Steppes poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Goblins Of The Steppes poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Friendship poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Don’t Ask Me Why poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Devils poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Day’s Rain Is Done poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Confession (to Alina Osipova, 1826) poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Bound for your distant home poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Boris Godunov poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Arion poem – Alexander Pushkin
- An Invocation poem – Alexander Pushkin
- An Elegy poem – Alexander Pushkin
- A Little Bird poem – Alexander Pushkin
- A Winter Evening 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.