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:
- An Hymn To Humanity by Phillis Wheatley
- Robert Burns: My Girl She’s Airy: Fragment
- Poems On Time by Rabindranath Tagore
- “Take not the Gods to task, for they are wise” poem – Alfred Austin
- Robin Redbreast by William Allingham
- Dream With Clam-Diggers by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Маяковский – Частушки
- Жан де Лафонтен – Смерть и Несчастный
- Inscription on a Grotto, the Work of Nine Ladies. poem – Alexander Pope
- On Elphinstone’s Translation of Martial’s Epigrams by Robert Burns
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 121. Sad Hesper o’er the buried sun poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- To Hope poem – John Keats poems
- Written Manna by Rangam Chiru
- Entropy by Sriparna Bandyopadhyay
- The Scholars by William Butler Yeats
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
- Владимир Высоцкий – На острове необитаемом
- Владимир Высоцкий – На Филиппинах бархатный сезон
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы живём в большом селе Большие Вилы
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы вращаем Землю
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы вместе грабили одну и ту же хату
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы просто куклы
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы бдительны, мы тайн не разболтаем
- Владимир Высоцкий – Моя клятва (Первый стих)
- Владимир Высоцкий – Москва-Одесса
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мой Гамлет
- Высоцкий – Спасибо, что живой: стих, текст “Мой черный человек в костюме сером” – Poetry Monster
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мог бы быть я при тёще, при тесте
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мне в душу ступит кто-то посторонний
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мне скулы от досады сводит
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мне каждый вечер зажигают свечи
- Владимир Высоцкий – Михаилу Шемякину под впечатлением от серии “Чрево”
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мистерия хиппи
- Владимир Высоцкий – Милицейский протокол
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мажорный светофор, трёхцветье, трио
- Владимир Высоцкий – Маски
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.