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:
- A Song On A Sigh by William Strode
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не бывает кораблей без названия
- My Eyes in the Time of Apparition by Rachel McKibbens
- Robert Burns: Of A’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw:
- Epigram on Miss Fontenelle by Robert Burns
- I have been tricked by flying too close by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Robert Burns: The Day Returns:
- Владимир Гиппиус – Закон чего? – закона нет
- Николай Глазков – А минувшее все непонятнее ребусов
- Crystal by Paul Celan
- Song of the Broad-Axe. by Walt Whitman
- Birdsong by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Владимир Орлов – Что нельзя купить
- Яков Полонский – Н. А. Грибоедова
- Владимир Корнилов – Незадача
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
- Bathed in War’s Perfume. by Walt Whitman
- Base of all Metaphysics, The. by Walt Whitman
- at Weeping Face. by Walt Whitman
- Assurances. by Walt Whitman
- Ashes of Soldiers. by Walt Whitman
- As Toilsome I Wander’d. by Walt Whitman
- As the Time Draws Nigh. by Walt Whitman
- As if a Phantom Caress’d Me. by Walt Whitman
- As I Watch’d the Ploughman Ploughing. by Walt Whitman
- As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days. by Walt Whitman
- As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores. by Walt Whitman
- As I Ponder’d in Silence. by Walt Whitman
- As I lay with Head in your Lap, Camerado. by Walt Whitman
- As Consequent, Etc. by Walt Whitman
- As At Thy Portals Also Death. by Walt Whitman
- As Adam, Early in the Morning. by Walt Whitman
- As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free. by Walt Whitman
- Artilleryman’s Vision, The. by Walt Whitman
- Apostroph. by Walt Whitman
- Ages and Ages, Returning at Intervals. by Walt Whitman
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.