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:
- Power poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Love Expression in Marriage
- Dedication by Wole Soyinka
- The Markets Are Down 2 Amp A Quarter
- Василий Жуковский – Торжество победителей
- The Gardener LIX: O Woman by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Leaden Echo And The Golden Echo poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Loving In Truth, And Fain In Verse My Love To Show by Sir Philip Sidney
- On The Death Of A Favourite Cat, Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray
- Shelley’s Death poem – Alfred Austin
- To The Honble Commodore Hood on His Pardoning a Deserter by Phillis Wheatley
- Николай Карамзин – Эпитафия (Он жил в сем мире для того)
- What Was Lost by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Орлов – Ковровые дорожки
- Day And Night by Rupert Brooke
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
- Twenty-Four Hokku On A Modern Theme poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Towns in Colour poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- To-Morrow To Fresh Woods And Pastures New poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- To A Husband poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Swans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Starling poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Pond poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Poet poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Letter poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Great Adventure Of Max Breuck poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Garden By Moonlight poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Dinner-Party poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Cremona Violin poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Country House poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Artist poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prayer For Lightning poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prayer For A Profusion Of Sunflowers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Orange Of Midsummer poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
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.