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:
- Олег Карелин – Фото
- Вероника Тушнова – Я одна тебя любить умею
- In The Metropolitan Museum by Sara Teasdale
- Complimentary Epigram to Mrs. Riddell by Robert Burns
- The Broomfield Hill poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Mesh by Shahida Latif
- Василий Жуковский – Элизиум
- attack_on_the_ad_man.html
- Epigram—The True Loyal Natives by Robert Burns
- To Sir William Davenant
- Юлия Друнина – Старый Крым
- Иван Варавва – В закубанском лесу
- Heaven–Haven: A Nun Takes The Veil poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Your Dream
- Books poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
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
- On Going Unnoticed by Robert Frost
- On a Tree Fallen Across the Road by Robert Frost
- October by Robert Frost
- Now Close the Windows by Robert Frost
- Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
- Not To Keep by Robert Frost
- New Hampshire by Robert Frost
- Never Again Would Bird’s Song Be The Same by Robert Frost
- Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost
- My November Guest by Robert Frost
- My Butterfly by Robert Frost
- Mowing by Robert Frost
- Misgiving by Robert Frost
- Meeting and Passing by Robert Frost
- Maple by Robert Frost
- Looking For a Sunset Bird in Winter by Robert Frost
- Lodged by Robert Frost
- Locked Out by Robert Frost
- Leaves Compared With Flowers by Robert Frost
- Into My Own by Robert Frost
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.