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:
- The Wise Builder by William Somervile
- A Galloway Song poem – John Keats poems
- Федор Сологуб – В его саду растет рябина
- November, 1806 by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary?:
- Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Haven Woones Fortune A-Twold by William Barnes
- Three Portraits Of Prince Charles poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Dark Wood, Dark Water by Sylvia Plath
- Autumn by Walter Savage Landor
- Николай Гумилев – Неоромантическая сказка
- Омар Хайям – Когда фиалки льют благоуханье
- Михаил Ломоносов – Чем ты дале прочь отходишь
- On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H. by William Matthews
- Владимир Высоцкий – Перед выездом в загранку заполняешь кучу бланков
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
- Les Roses de Sâdi poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Johnnie Armstrang poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Jock O The Side poem – Andrew Lang poems
- In Ithica poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Highly Valuable Chain Of Thoughts poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Gordon Of Brackley poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Edom O’ Gordon poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Double Ballade Of Primitive Man poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Before The Snow poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades V – Of His Choice Of A Sepulchre poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades IV – Of Life poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades III – Of Blue China poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades II – Of The Book-Hunter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballades I – To Theocritus, In Winter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of True Wisdom poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Southern Cross poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of Sleep poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Ballade Of The Royal Game Of Golf poem – Andrew Lang poems
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.