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:
- Be Prepared by Raj Napal
- The Way by Robert Creeley
- Skyscrapers by Rifat Ilgaz
- They won’t Know by Rifat Ilgaz
- For Hans Carossa by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Ок Мельникова – Вечные ценности
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Современная идиллия
- My Mother by Mahmoud Darwish
- Николай Заболоцкий – В тайге
- Ode poem – Amr ibn Kulthum poems | Poems and Poetry
- Along The Way by Rabindranath Tagore
- Oh Mother poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Константин Батюшков – Мадригал Мелине, которая называла себя нимфою
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Journey with God by Raj Napal
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
- houses.html
- flight_of_stairs.html
- epitaph_on_a_disturber_of_his_times.html
- epitaph_for_our_children.html
- cats.html
- Attack On The Ad-Man
- When I Was Young the Silk poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Weathering poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Their Sex Life poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- The City Limits poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Still poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- So I Said I Am Ezra poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Small Song poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Shit List; Or, Omnium-gatherum Of Diversity Into Unity poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Rogue Elephant poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Rivulose poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Release poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Recovery poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Rapids poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Poetics poem – A. R. Ammons 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.