A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Gliding through the still air, he made no sound;
Wing-shod and deft, dropped almost at her feet,
And searched the ghostly regiments and found
The living eyes, the tremor of breath, the beat
Of blood in all that bodiless underground.
She left her majesty; she loosed the zone
Of darkness and put by the rod of dread.
Standing, she turned her back upon the throne
Where, well she knew, the Ruler of the Dead,
Lord of her body and being, sat like stone;
Stared with his ravenous eyes to see her shake
The midnight drifting from her loosened hair,
The girl once more in all her actions wake,
The blush of colour in her cheeks appear
Lost with her flowers that day beside the lake.
The summer flowers scattering, the shout,
The black manes plunging down to the black pit —
Memory or dream? She stood awhile in doubt,
Then touched the Traveller God’s brown arm and met
His cool, bright glance and heard his words ring out:
“Queen of the Dead and Mistress of the Year!”
— His voice was the ripe ripple of the corn;
The touch of dew, the rush of morning air —
“Remember now the world where you were born;
The month of your return at last is here.”
And still she did not speak, but turned again
Looking for answer, for anger, for command:
The eyes of Dis were shut upon their pain;
Calm as his marble brow, the marble hand
Slept on his knee. Insuperable disdain
Foreknowing all bounds of passion, of power, of art,
Mastered but could not mask his deep despair.
Even as she turned with Hermes to depart,
Looking her last on her grim ravisher
For the first time she loved him from her heart.

A few random poems:
- To The Small Celandine by William Wordsworth
- Still Life by Piera Chen
- Slag by Mark Base
- In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Epitaph for James Smith by Robert Burns
- Poems On Man by Rabindranath Tagore
- Robert Burns: Lady Mary Ann:
- Grief by Philip Larkin
- Алексей Жемчужников – Воспоминание в деревне о Петербурге
- The Lost Friend poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Door Of Humility poem – Alfred Austin
- A Brook in the City by Robert Frost
- Robert Burns: On Politics:
- Convalescence poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Карамзин – Прости
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
- Sir Philip Sidney; Astrophel and Stella: XXIII by Sir Philip Sidney
- Ring Out Your Bells by Sir Philip Sidney
- Psalm 19: Coeli Enarrant by Sir Philip Sidney
- Philomela by Sir Philip Sidney
- Loving In Truth, And Fain In Verse My Love To Show by Sir Philip Sidney
- Leave Me, O Love Which Reachest But To Dust by Sir Philip Sidney
- Come Sleep, O Sleep! The Certain Knot Of Peace by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XXXIX by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XXXIII by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XX by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XV by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XLI by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: XCII by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella VII: WhenNature Made her Chief Work by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel And Stella-Sonnet XXXI by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel And Stella-Sonnet LIV by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel And Stella; Sonnet CVIII by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella LXXXIV: HIGHWAY by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: LXXI by Sir Philip Sidney
- Astrophel and Stella: LXIV by Sir Philip Sidney
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.