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:
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мы бдительны, мы тайн не разболтаем
- Named by Stephen Dunn
- The Soul’s Prayer by Sarojini Naidu
- Robert Burns: The Weary Pund O’ Tow:
- Robert Burns: Meg O’ The Mill : Another Version
- Яков Полонский – Памяти В. М. Гаршина
- Francesca poem – Ezra Pound poems
- An Arab Shepherd Is Searching For His Goat On Mount Zion by Yehuda Amichai
- Михаил Лермонтов – Зови надежду сновиденьем
- Ольга Высотская – Обидчивая кукушка
- He Gives His Beloved Certain Rhymes by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Эй, товарищ! Если ты пришел на Сухаревку… (РОСТА №262)
- Sonnet Ix
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
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
- The Fool Rings His Bells by Walter de la Mare
- Tartary by Walter de la Mare
- Sunk Lyonesse by Walter de la Mare
- Some One by Walter de la Mare
- Silver by Walter de la Mare
- Old Susan by Walter de la Mare
- Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare
- November by Walter de la Mare
- Music by Walter de la Mare
- Miss Loo by Walter de la Mare
- Melmillo by Walter de la Mare
- How Sleep the Brave by Walter de la Mare
- Good-bye by Walter de la Mare
- Full Moon by Walter de la Mare
- Fare Well by Walter de la Mare
- Bones by Walter de la Mare
- At Ease by Walter de la Mare
- Alone by Walter de la Mare
- All That’s Past by Walter de la Mare
- Alexander by Walter de la Mare
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.