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:
- Flirting by Satish Verma
- Walking The Marshland by Stephen Dunn
- Вера Павлова – Зеркало по природе правдиво
- Hymn Light
- Владимир Высоцкий – Живу я в лучшем из миров
- How Sleep the Brave by Walter de la Mare
- Владимир Британишский – Державин был солдат
- Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind by Stephen Crane
- Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes by William Shakespeare
- Анатолий Жигулин – Ах, как весело листья летят
- Владимир Орлов – Где петушок носит гребешок
- Георгий Иванов – Танцуй, монах, танцуй, поэт
- A Death Song by William Morris
- At Mass by Vachel Lindsay
- Waking poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
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
- From Afar by Rabindranath Tagore
- Dream Girl by Rabindranath Tagore
- Cruel Kindness by Rabindranath Tagore
- Compensation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Birth Story by Rabindranath Tagore
- At The Last Watch by Rabindranath Tagore
- At The End Of The Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- And In Wonder And Amazement I Sing by Rabindranath Tagore
- Along The Way by Rabindranath Tagore
- All These I Loved by Rabindranath Tagore
- A Hundred Years Hence by Rabindranath Tagore
- A Dream (English Translation) by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Essay on Liberty by Abraham Cowley
- Paul’s Wife by Robert Frost
- Pan with Us by Robert Frost
- ‘Out, Out–‘ by Robert Frost
- Our Singing Strength by Robert Frost
- One Step Backward Taken by Robert Frost
- Once By The Pacific by Robert Frost
- On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations by Robert Frost
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.