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:
- Block City by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Михаил Лермонтов – В рядах стояли безмолвной толпой
- May Magnificat poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Moonrise poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Childhood by William Barnes
- Identity of Images by Robert Desnos
- On His Grotto at Twickenham poem – Alexander Pope
- Robert Burns: To Daunton Me:
- Олег Бундур – У кромки моря
- Adam by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Владимир Маяковский – Да или нет
- Алишер Навои – Сердце кровью из ран обагрить я сумел
- Юлия Друнина – В школе
- Futility by Wilfred Owen
- Robert Burns: Sonnet Written On The Author’s Birthday, : On hearing a Thrush sing in his Morning Walk.
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
- You are coming! by Preeth Nambiar
- Wish If You…! by Praveen Parasar
- When the universe speaks by Preeth Nambiar
- WATER LILLIES AND ADVICE by PEGGY AYLSWORTH
- Waking up on a rainy morning by Preeth Nambiar
- Wake Oslo up again by Philo Ikonya
- Towards The sky by Pushpendra Singh Baghel
- To Double Lock by Pierre Reverdy
- The way aboard by Preeth Nambiar
- The Theatre of Illusion by Pierre Corneille
- The Survivor by Primo Levi
- The Search by Pornika Ganguly
- The Magic by Preeth Nambiar
- The Love! by Praveen Parasar
- The Last Letter by Priyanka Tungana
- The Fragrance of life by Preeth Nambiar
- The Deeper Shadow by Pierre Reverdy
- The Actor by Preeth Nambiar
- That Light by Paul Hostovsky
- Termites by Piera Chen
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.