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:
- Жан Расин – Когда мы вышли из Трезенских врат
- Владимир Британишский – Девятое января
- A Do’set Sale by William Barnes
- Will the SEZ Act Boost Exports?
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope
- A Memory Of Youth by William Butler Yeats
- Robert Burns: Meg O’ The Mill : Another Version
- The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Lover’s Gifts VIII: There Is Room for You by Rabindranath Tagore
- Rural Architecture by William Wordsworth
- Vorticism Is A Choka In Its Modular Home
- Written Manna by Rangam Chiru
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- Once A Great Love by Yehuda Amichai
- A Veterans Memories Breeze By In the Wind by Stacey Chillemi
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
- TEMPORARY AND NOW by PEGGY AYLSWORTH
- Swimming Pool by Piera Chen
- Summer by Pornika Ganguly
- Still Life by Piera Chen
- So Long! by Precious Tahula
- Silence by Preeth Nambiar
- Shema by Primo Levi
- Second Poem by Peter Orlovsky
- Reveille by Primo Levi
- Poetic Dilemma by Pawan Kumar
- Snow & Ice by Quincy Troupe
- Untitled by Quincy Troupe
- Poem Reaching For Something by Quincy Troupe
- The Survivor by Primo Levi
- Shema by Primo Levi
- Reveille by Primo Levi
- Snail Poem by Peter Orlovsky
- My Bed is Covered Yellow by Peter Orlovsky
- Second Poem by Peter Orlovsky
- First Poem by Peter Orlovsky
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.