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:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Попугая
- Sonnet 78: So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Корнилов – Прямота
- Infelice by Stevie Smith
- Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
- Ольга Берггольц – Не может быть, чтоб жили мы напрасно
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- Маяковский – Стоит баба с жопой метр на метр: стих, текст стихотворения Владимира Маяковского – Poetry Monster
- Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service by T. S. Eliot
- Федор Сологуб – Я люблю мою темную землю
- Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Life, wait for me by Martin Zakovski
- The Human Tragedy ACT III poem – Alfred Austin
- Николай Некрасов – В полном разгаре страда деревенская
- In January by Ted Kooser
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
- Coal-Truck by T. Wignesan
- Cinderella by Roald Dahl
- blessing for sound health by matthew scott harris
- Black Lake by Memphis Knight
- Before The Law by Michael Major
- A Conceit by Maya Angelou
- A Rythm Upon Our Trusts by Michael McGovern
- Your Poems on My Patio by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Yesterday’s Mishaps by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Yes Dear by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Words Unspoken by Mark Olynyk
- Woman With Parasol by Martin Willitts Jr.
- Why Write? by Mark Olynyk
- Where Have We All Gone by Mary Etta Metcalf
- What is Poetry? by Mark Olynyk
- Wednesday by Marvin Bell
- To Sea by Martin Zakovski
- To Dorothy by Marvin Bell
- They Thought Her Crazy by Mary Etta Metcalf
- These Green-Going-to-Yellow by Marvin Bell
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.