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:
- Mustard Flowers
- “For where, beneath one’s parent sky” poem – Alfred Austin
- The Last Wolf by Mary TallMountain
- Владимир Корнилов – Платформа 126-го км
- Return From Business
- The Lover Mourns For The Loss Of Love by William Butler Yeats
- Apologia Pro Poemate Meo by Wilfred Owen
- Sculptor by Sylvia Plath
- An Attempt At The Manner Of Waller by William Cowper
- Stanzas. In A Drear-Nighted December poem – John Keats poems
- Ярослав Смеляков – Земляника
- Аля Кудряшева – Невозможно держать в памяти все человечество
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочий, ты читал СНК наказ?.. (Главполитпросвет №292)
- Николай Языков – А. И. Готовцевой (Влюблен я, дева-красота)
- Eddi’s Service by Rudyard Kipling
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 Stwonèn Pworch by William Barnes
- The Stage Coach by William Barnes
- The Sparrow Club by William Barnes
- The Slantèn Light O’ Fall by William Barnes
- The Sky A-Clearen by William Barnes
- The Shy Man by William Barnes
- The Shepherd O’ The Farm by William Barnes
- The Settle An’ The Girt Wood Vire by William Barnes
- The Scud by William Barnes
- The Rwose In The Dark by William Barnes
- The Railroad by William Barnes
- The Poplars by William Barnes
- The Pleäce Our Own Ageän by William Barnes
- The Pleäce A Teäle’s A-Twold O’ by William Barnes
- The Pillar’d Geäte by William Barnes
- The Peasant’s Return by William Barnes
- The New House A-Gettèn’ Wold by William Barnes
- The Neäme Letters by William Barnes
- The Music O’ The Dead by William Barnes
- The Motherless Child by William Barnes
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.