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:
- In Sutton Woods poem – Alfred Austin
- Sonnet 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see by William Shakespeare
- The Night Dances by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Костров – 1380 год
- April’s Charms by William Henry Davies
- Жан де Лафонтен – Ласочка в амбаре
- I Write a Poem by Aiyah De Torres
- Where Be Ye Going, You Devon Maid? poem – John Keats poems
- Let A Florid Music Praise by W H Auden
- We Are As The Flute by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Taking yourself too seriously by Raj Arumugam
- Вероника Тушнова – Ты не любишь считать облака
- Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
- Memory Of My Father by Patrick Kavanagh
- Celebrity Style Of The Week: Gabriel Akinosho
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
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 05 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 04 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 02 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Ecco Mormorar L’onde (Now The Waves Murmur) by Torquato Tasso
- Vegetable Swallow by Tristan Tzara
- To Make A Dadist Poem by Tristan Tzara
- The Last Breath of a Ship by Tri Tran
- The Great Lament Of My Obscurity Three by Tristan Tzara
- Proclamation Without Pretension by Tristan Tzara
- Cinema Calendar Of The Abstract Heart; 09 by Tristan Tzara
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.