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:
- Такахама Кёси – О, как ночь коротка
- The time has come for us to become madmen in your chain by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Владимир Степанов – Кто хозяин
- It Will Not Change by Sara Teasdale
- Russian-American Romance poem – Andrei Voznesensky poems
- The Giants In Treädes by William Barnes
- Виктор Шамонин-Версенев – Волк-дурень
- Because We Never Practiced With The Escape Chamber poem – Alice Fulton
- An ode to you by Tanisha Avarsekar
- Николай Рубцов – Зимняя песня
- Vaishnavi Prakash by Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Fall by William Barnes
- A Front Row Seat To Hear Ole Johnny Sing by Shel Silverstein
- Edward Lear by W H Auden
- The Kiss: A Dialogue by Robert Herrick
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 Brave and the Love Flute by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Faith and Faiths by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- The Death of Knowledge by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- The Brave and the Love Flute by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Faith and Faiths by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- The Death of Knowledge by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- The Brave and the Love Flute by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Faith and Faiths by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Be Not a War Poet by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- Why the Young Men Are So Ugly by Tony Hoagland
- V by Tony Harrison
- Turns by Tony Harrison
- The Change by Tony Hoagland
- Special Problems in Vocabulary by Tony Hoagland
- Requests for Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
- Reasons to Survive November by Tony Hoagland
- Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet by Tony Hoagland
- Quiet by Tony Hoagland
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.