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:
- It was a Lover and his Lass by William Shakespeare
- Шекспир – Любовь – не кукла жалкая в руках – Сонет 116
- Robert Burns: Altho’ He Has Left Me:
- do you believe in always by Steve Troyanovich
- The Ghost’s Leavetaking by Sylvia Plath
- Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith
- Омар Хайям – О доколе ты по свету будешь кружить
- The Boston Athenaeum poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Human Tragedy ACT III poem – Alfred Austin
- Solitude poem – Alexander Pushkin
- A Stepmother’s Vain Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- To a Discarded Toast by William Somervile
- Saint George the Dragon by Michael Nikoletseas
- I closed my eyes to creation by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Михаил Лермонтов – Бартеневой
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
- Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding by T. S. Eliot
- Four Quartets 3: The Dry Salvages by T. S. Eliot
- Four Quartets 2: East Coker by T. S. Eliot
- Four Quartets 1: Burnt Norton by T. S. Eliot
- Dans le Restaurant by T. S. Eliot
- Cousin Nancy by T. S. Eliot
- Conversation Galante by T. S. Eliot
- Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town by T. S. Eliot
- Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar by T. S. Eliot
- Aunt Helen by T. S. Eliot
- Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot
- A Cooking Egg by T. S. Eliot
- Woman by Tala Bar
- Walk with Me by Tammy L Ames
- Today’s News by Ted Berrigan
- The Woman Of His Dreams by Talha Jafri
- The Soundless Ocean by Tanmoy
- The Poet by Thom Douglas Carlisle
- The Narrative by Talha Jafri
- The Garden by Tammy L. Ames
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.