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:
- Владимир Британишский – Мне скучно
- Minoan Porcelain poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Николай Глазков – Раздумья
- Владимир Британишский – Аэрогеофизик
- Impromptu on Dumourier’s Desertion of the French Republican Army by Robert Burns
- Social Amenities poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Reef poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Robert Burns: The Posie :
- Степан Щипачев – Тебе
- Prologue To Spring by Sylvia Plath
- Алишер Навои – О, мне бы крылья
- Robert Burns: O That’s The Lassie O’ My Heart :
- Faithless Nelly Gray by Thomas Hood
- My Miracle Valentine by Tirtha Raj Baral (Sanu Punatare)
- The Fall by Satish Verma
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
- The Messiah : A Sacred Eclogue poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Looking-Glass. : on Mrs. Pulteney poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Fable of Dryope – Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 9, [v. 324-393] poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Dying Christian to His Soul poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Dunciad: Book IV poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Dunciad: Book III. poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Dunciad: Book II. poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Dunciad: Book I. poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Challenge: A Court Ballad poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Basset-Table : An Eclogue poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Summer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Spring – The First Pastoral ; or Damon poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Sound And Sense poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Song, by a Person of Quality poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Solitude: An Ode poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Solitude poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Sappho to Phaon (Ovid Heroid XV) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
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.