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 Child’s Greäve by William Barnes
- “Célibataire” by Sylvia Plath
- The Soul’s Prayer by Sarojini Naidu
- “Because I failed, shall I asperse the End” poem – Alfred Austin
- Наум Коржавин – Друзьям
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Отчаяние
- All That’s Past by Walter de la Mare
- Eternity by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Fields and Gardens by the River Qi by Wang Wei
- Umbrella by Mike Yuan
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 45. The baby new to earth and sky poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Владимир Гиляровский – Нива
- The Germans On The Heighs Of Hochheim by William Wordsworth
- Elixer Vitæ poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
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
- To a Virtuous Young Lady poem – John Milton poems
- The Passion poem – John Milton poems
- The Hymn poem – John Milton poems
- The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet to the Nightingale poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 23 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 21 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 20 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 19 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 18 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 17 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 14 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 13 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 10 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 09 poem – John Milton 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.