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:
- Water Music by Robert Creeley
- Олег Григорьев – На собрании
- Resurgam
- Алексей Жемчужников – Возрождение
- children039s_eyes.html
- Николай Заболоцкий – Старая актриса
- Ancient Music poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Cheery Beggar poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- us_two_by_a_a_milne.html
- Выхожу один я на дорогу – Лермонтов: Стихотворение, читать текст стиха Михаила Лермонтова – Poetry Monster
- Public Waste by Rudyard Kipling
- Denis poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Корнилов – Нищий
- Валерий Брюсов – Идеал
- The Death of the Flowers by William Cullen Bryant
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
- A Plain Life by William Henry Davies
- A Greeting by William Henry Davies
- A Great Time by William Henry Davies
- A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies
- Remorse For Intemperate Speech by William Butler Yeats
- Red Hanrahan’s Song About Ireland by William Butler Yeats
- Reconciliation by William Butler Yeats
- Quarrel In Old Age by William Butler Yeats
- Presences by William Butler Yeats
- Politics by William Butler Yeats
- Players Ask For A Blessing On The Psalteries And On Themselves by William Butler Yeats
- Peace by William Butler Yeats
- Paudeen by William Butler Yeats
- Parting by William Butler Yeats
- Parnell’s Funeral by William Butler Yeats
- Parnell by William Butler Yeats
- Owen Aherne And His Dancers by William Butler Yeats
- On Woman by William Butler Yeats
- On Being Asked For A War Poem by William Butler Yeats
- On A Political Prisoner by William Butler Yeats
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.