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:
- Hora Stellatrix poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Harp Song of the Dane Women by Rudyard Kipling
- Between the Showers poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: The Mauchline Lady: Fragment
- Mending Socks by Martin Willitts Jr.
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня про правого инсайда
- The Fraser River by Mike Yuan
- Unlike, For Example, The Sound Of A Riptooth Saw by Thomas Lux
- A Mother’s Lament for her Son’s Death by Robert Burns
- Identity of Images by Robert Desnos
- Alone
- The Conjugation of the Paramecium by Muriel Rukeyser
- For Hans Carossa by Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
- Epistle to John Rankine by Robert Burns
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 Unpromised Land, Montgomery, Alabama poem – Andrew Hudgins poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sounds of your love poem – Andrew Vassell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sexual eyes poem – Andrew Vassell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Satisfaction of my eyes poem – Andrew Vassell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Praying Drunk poem – Andrew Hudgins poems | Poems and Poetry
- Medicine to my brain poem – Andrew Vassell poems | Poems and Poetry
- In The Well poem – Andrew Hudgins poems | Poems and Poetry
- Hawk poem – Andrew Demcak poems | Poems and Poetry
- French kiss to knickers poem – Andrew Vassell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Beachy Blues poem – Andrew Neil Maternick poems | Poems and Poetry
- Words You Said poem – Andrew Neil Maternick poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Winter Twilight poem – Angelina Weld Grimke poems | Poems and Poetry
- When The Green Lies Over The Earth poem – Angelina Weld Grimke poems | Poems and Poetry
- Universe poem – Aminu Ola Rasaq poems | Poems and Poetry
- Trees poem – Angelina Weld Grimke poems | Poems and Poetry
- There is but there is not poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Voice poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- THE ROAD OF ANGEL poem – kapardeli eftichia poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Nautical Why poem – Amy Nawrocki poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Final Poem poem – Andree Chedid 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.