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:
- Alfred’s Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Goody Blake And Harry Gill by William Wordsworth
- From Milton: And did those feet by William Blake
- Scotland by MB Moshe
- I closed my eyes to creation by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Fuzzy-Wuzzy by Rudyard Kipling
- Matrimony by Mike Yuan
- The Lilac by William Barnes
- Sonet 44 by William Alexander
- A Pity, We Were Such A Good Invention by Yehuda Amichai
- Doomes-Day: The Fourth Houre by William Alexander
- Наум Коржавин – О Господи! Как я хочу умереть
- Poems, Potatoes by Sylvia Plath
- If I To You But Sorry Bring poem – Alfred Austin
- By the Dusk – Ao Entardecer by Soaroir de Campos
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 Маяковский – Себе, любимому, посвящает эти строки автор
- Владимир Маяковский – Счастье искусств
- Владимир Маяковский – С винтовкой, но без знания – нет побед (РОСТА № 115)
- Владимир Маяковский – С Польшей подписан мир… (РОСТА №428)
- Владимир Маяковский – С Польшей мир… (РОСТА №423)
- Владимир Маяковский – Ров (РОСТА №181)
- Владимир Маяковский – Россия – страна земледельческая… (РОСТА №874)
- Владимир Маяковский – Россия — единое советское хозяйство (РОСТА № 280)
- Владимир Маяковский – России
- Владимир Маяковский – Рифмованные лозунги
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама журнала “Огонек”
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама Резинотрест
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама Моссукно
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама Мосполиграф
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама издательства “Красная новь”
- Владимир Маяковский – Реклама, 1928
- Владимир Маяковский – Разве у вас не чешутся обе лопатки
- Владимир Маяковский – Размышления у парадного подъезда
- Владимир Маяковский – Разговор с товарищем Лениным
- Владимир Маяковский – Рассказ Хренова о Кузнецкстрое и о людях Кузнецка
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.