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:
- About The Sheltered Garden Ground by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Taking Leave of a Friend poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Hosts
- Olney Hymn 57: The New Convert by William Cowper
- Yesterday by W. S. Merwin
- Public Waste by Rudyard Kipling
- Mirage
- Юлия Друнина – Старый Крым
- Meant To Be by Russ Pergram
- Ouija by Sylvia Plath
- Written With A Slate Pencil On A Stone, On The Side Of The Mountain Of Black Comb by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочий, не смотри Антанте в рот… (РОСТА №173)
- The Hosts
- Yasin Khan
- Robert Burns: The Dean Of Faculty: A New Ballad
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
- Angry People by Roger Hayes
- You and I by Roger McGough
- Who hears the wind by Roland Zoss
- Waiting by Rohith
- The Trouble with Snowmen by Roger McGough
- The Time I Like Best by Roger McGough
- The Lesson by Roger McGough
- The Leader by Roger McGough
- The Identification by Roger McGough
- Survivor by Roger McGough
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Soil by Roger McGough
- Silences still voice by Rohini Bhatia Singj
- Schlummerland – Slumberland / CD by Roland Zoss
- Prayer by Roland Flint
- Ladies And Gentlemen In Outer Space by Ron Padgett
- ode to love by Rohit Sridharan
- My iPod by Roland Bastien
- Mrs Moon by Roger McGough
- Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough
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.