A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
What did I study in your School of Night?
When your mouth’s first unfathomable yes
Opened your body to be my book, I read
My answers there and learned the spell aright,
Yet, though I searched and searched, could never guess
What spirits it raised nor where their questions led.
Those others, familiar tenants of your sleep,
The whisperers, the grave somnambulists
Whose eyes turn in to scrutinize their woe,
The giant who broods above the nightmare steep,
That sleeping girl, shuddering, with clenched fists,
A vampire baby suckling at her toe,
They taught me most. The scholar held his pen
And watched his blood drip thickly on the page
To form a text in unknown characters
Which, as I scanned them, changed and changed again:
The lines grew bars, the bars a Delphic cage
And I the captive of his magic verse.
A few random poems:
- From Milton: And did those feet by William Blake
- Федор Сологуб – Слышу голос милой
- Владимир Маяковский – Не юбилейте
- Matter For Gratitude poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Orchard by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Song Of The Princess by Sara Teasdale
- The Roussalka poem – Alexander Pushkin
- There Came a Soul by Rita Dove
- Forfeiture
- Davideis A Sacred Poem Of The Troubles Of David Excerpt
- Ready for Retirement by Mike Yuan
- Ольга Высотская – Снежный кролик
- Hitler, a poem about Hitler
- Sonnet Ix
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
- In Praise Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- “`If you were mine, if you were mine” poem – Alfred Austin
- If I To You But Sorry Bring poem – Alfred Austin
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- Hymn To Death poem – Alfred Austin
- “Here, where the vine and fig bask hand in hand,” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Here have I learnt the little that I know” poem – Alfred Austin
- Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
- Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin
- “Give me October’s meditative haze” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Give me a roof where Wisdom dwells” poem – Alfred Austin
- “For where, beneath one’s parent sky” poem – Alfred Austin
- “`Father, farewell! Be not distressed” poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Italy poem – Alfred Austin
- Dedication To The Edition Of 1876 To H.J.A. poem – Alfred Austin
- Dedication To Lady Windsor poem – Alfred Austin
- “`Covet who will the patronage of Kings ” poem – Alfred Austin
- “Could I but leave men wiser by my song ” poem – Alfred Austin
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.