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:
- Half-Ballad of Waterval by Rudyard Kipling
- Из головы у меня не выходишь
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For William Nicol, Of The High School, Edinburgh:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – День и две ночи
- Омар Хайям о Боге и религии: Рубаи, стихи Хайяма про Бога – Poetry Monster
- Николай Тихонов – Берлин 9 мая
- Awaken by Mark Miller
- Владимир Маяковский – Военно-морская любовь
- My Mother Would Be a Falconress by Robert Duncan
- Sonnet 07
- Il Penseroso poem – John Milton poems
- Омар Хайям – Цветам и запахам владеть тобой доколе
- Song—A Waukrife Minnie by Robert Burns
- Владимир Высоцкий – В белье плотной вязки
- Winter Seascape poem – John Betjeman poems
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
- Old Ladies’ Home by Sylvia Plath
- Ode For Ted by Sylvia Plath
- Notes To A Neophyte by Sylvia Plath
- Nick And The Candlestick by Sylvia Plath
- New Year On Dartmoor by Sylvia Plath
- Never Try To Trick Me With A Kiss by Sylvia Plath
- Mussel Hunter At Rock Harbor by Sylvia Plath
- Morning In The Hospital Solarium by Sylvia Plath
- Moonsong At Morning by Sylvia Plath
- Monologue At 3 AM by Sylvia Plath
- Miss Drake Proceeds To Supper by Sylvia Plath
- Metamorphoses Of The Moon by Sylvia Plath
- Memoirs Of A Spinach-Picker by Sylvia Plath
- Mary’s Song by Sylvia Plath
- Man In Black by Sylvia Plath
- Mad Girl’s Love Song by Sylvia Plath
- Love Is A Parallax by Sylvia Plath
- Letter To A Purist by Sylvia Plath
- Letter In November by Sylvia Plath
- A Lesson In Vengeance by Sylvia Plath
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.