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:
- You must once
- one_almost_might.html
- Astrophel and Stella: XCII by Sir Philip Sidney
- Robert Burns: The Song Of Death: Scene-A Field of Battle. Time of the day-evening. The wounded and dying of the victorious army are supposed to join in the following song.
- Flowers notebook
- Suicide Off Egg Rock by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Данько – Верхом на палочке
- Life-companion by Shailendra Chauhan
- Christopher Found poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – Наврут полный короб… (Главполитпросвет №68)
- Death Fugue by Paul Celan
- Владимир Высоцкий – Запись в книге почётных гостей ВНИИФТРИ
- Владимир Маяковский – В 12 часов по ночам
- On A Celebrated Event In Ancient History by William Wordsworth
- Виталий Бакалдин – Я не рос среди берез
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
- The Illusion of Love by Sarojini Naidu
- The Bangle Sellers by Sarojini Naidu
- The Snake Charmer by Sarojini Naidu
- The Queen’s Rival by Sarojini Naidu
- In The Bazaars of Hyderabad by Sarojini Naidu
- Wandering Singers by Sarojini Naidu
- Village Song by Sarojini Naidu
- Transcience by Sarojini Naidu
- Suttee by Sarojini Naidu
- Street Cries by Sarojini Naidu
- Song Of A Dream by Sarojini Naidu
- Past and Future by Sarojini Naidu
- Palanquin Bearers by Sarojini Naidu
- Ode to H.H. The Nizam Of Hyderabad by Sarojini Naidu
- Nightfall In The City Of Hyderabad by Sarojini Naidu
- My Dead Dream by Sarojini Naidu
- Life by Sarojini Naidu
- Leili by Sarojini Naidu
- Indian Weavers by Sarojini Naidu
- Indian Love Song by Sarojini Naidu
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.