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:
- Excerpt – “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Roald Dahl
- Ольга Берггольц – Родине
- Robert Burns: Address To The Toothache:
- Олег Бундур – Август
- The Neäme Letters by William Barnes
- Sonnet 35: No more be grieved at that which thou hast done by William Shakespeare
- Nicotine poem – Ezra Pound poems
- I Heard You, Solemn-sweet Pipes of the Organ. by Walt Whitman
- The Dispossessed by Sylvia Plath
- Spenserian Stanza. Written At The Close Of Canto II, Book V, Of “The Faerie Queene” poem – John Keats poems
- Lines written on a Bank-note by Robert Burns
- Vision poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Song Of Faiz Ulla
- Федор Сологуб – Я люблю мою темную землю
- The Frantic by Mark Miller
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
- To A Young Writer by Yvor Winters
- Time And The Garden by Yvor Winters
- The Slow Pacific Swell by Yvor Winters
- The Moralists by Yvor Winters
- The Journey by Yvor Winters
- The Fable by Yvor Winters
- The Empty Hills by Yvor Winters
- Sir Gawaine And The Green Knight by Yvor Winters
- One Ran Before by Yvor Winters
- On A View Of Pasadena From The Hills by Yvor Winters
- Night Of Battle by Yvor Winters
- Much In Little by Yvor Winters
- Moonrise by Yvor Winters
- John Sutter by Yvor Winters
- God Of Roads by Yvor Winters
- At The San Francisco Airport by Yvor Winters
- An October Nocturne by Yvor Winters
- Alone by Yvor Winters
- A Song In Passing by Yvor Winters
- The Tavern by Willa Cather
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.