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:
- Robert Burns: Awa’ Whigs, Awa’:
- The Self and the Mulberry by Marvin Bell
- Dryads by Siegfried Sassoon
- Олег Бундур – Копуша
- He Made This Screen by Marianne Moore
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Земля
- Robert Burns: My Nanie, O:
- October Journey by Margaret Walker
- dickinson_and_the_alabaster_gogyohka.html
- F?sulan Idyl by Walter Savage Landor
- Олег Сердобольский – Облачко
- Lord when the wise men came from farr by Sidney Godolphin
- Жан де Лафонтен – Обезьяна и Дельфин
- Owl by Sylvia Plath
- Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems
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 Heart That Is Pining by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- The Clime Of My Birth by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- The Bird Has Vanished by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Solitude at an Inn by Thomas Warton
- Ribbons & Pearls by Timothy Cole
- Refrigerator, 1957 by Thomas Lux
- Timothy Thomas Fortune – Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Plague Victims Catapulted Over Walls Into Besieged City by Thomas Lux
- On King Arthur’s Round Table at Winchester by Thomas Warton
- Ode To Sleep by Thomas Warton
- My Precious Girl by Tiffany Ann Monroe
- My Miracle Valentine by Tirtha Raj Baral (Sanu Punatare)
- Mother Earth; Her Beauty And Her Destruction by TMBedell
- Motel Seedy by Thomas Lux
- Marine Snow At Mid-Depths And Down by Thomas Lux
- Lucky by Thomas Lux
- Love’s Divinest Power by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- Love of the heart by Timileyin Gabriel Olajuwon
- Just A Dance by Tiffany M
- Thomas Lux – Thomas Lux
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.