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:
- The Apple Trees at Olema by Robert Hass
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Gavin Hamilton, Esq.:
- Immaculacy by Satish Verma
- Шекспир – Не позволяю помыслам ревнивым – Сонет 57
- My Mother Would Be a Falconress by Robert Duncan
- Ode to Winter by Thomas Campbell
- Robert Burns: The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa:
- Спиридон Дрожжин – Песня пахаря
- Николай Гумилев – Живала Ниагара
- Ballade Of Aucassin poem – Andrew Lang poems
- On The Bus poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- On A Miser, 3 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Curse of Righteousness by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Who Knows? by Vachel Lindsay
- A Te Deum poem – Alfred Austin
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
- Off the Turnpike poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Obligation poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Number 3 on the Docket poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Number 3 on the Docket poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nightmare: A Tale for an Autumn Evening poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- New York at Night poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- New York at Night poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Music poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Music poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Monadnock in Early Spring poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Miscast II poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Miscast II poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Miscast I poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Miscast I poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mirage poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- March Evening poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- March Evening poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Malmaison poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Madonna of the Evening Flowers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Loon Point 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.