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: On Capt. Lascelles:
- Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (из Байрона)
- Алексей Плещеев – Весна
- Famine Song
- Mugging (I) poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Ash Wednesday by T. S. Eliot
- Where Is the Real Non-Resistant by Vachel Lindsay
- O mother, O Merry by Nikunj Sharma
- Crystal Gazer by Sylvia Plath
- The Parting
- Farmers Market by Mary TallMountain
- October Journey by Margaret Walker
- Dyer Died In Silence poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Степанов – Юрий Гагарин
- Sweeney Erect by T. S. Eliot
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
- Up The Line by Will McKendree Carleton
- Uncle Sammy by Will McKendree Carleton
- The New Church Organ by Will McKendree Carleton
- The Littlle Black-Eyed Rebel by Will McKendree Carleton
- The House Where We Were Wed by Will McKendree Carleton
- The Fading Flower by Will McKendree Carleton
- The Editor’s Guests by Will McKendree Carleton
- The Country Doctor by Will McKendree Carleton
- Thanksgiving Day by Will McKendree Carleton
- Over The Hill From The Poor-House by Will McKendree Carleton
- Our Army Of The Dead by Will McKendree Carleton
- One And Two by Will McKendree Carleton
- Johnny Rich by Will McKendree Carleton
- Autumn Days by Will McKendree Carleton
- Apple-Blossoms by Will McKendree Carleton
- Two Songs Of Advent by Yvor Winters
- On Teaching The Young by Yvor Winters
- Dark spring by Yvor Winters
- Where My Sight Goes by Yvor Winters
- To Emily Dickinson by Yvor Winters
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.