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:
- The Sultans Palace
- Владимир Луговской – Ты руку на голову мне положила
- The Death of Grandfather poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
- A Sunrise Song. by Sidney Lanier
- Олег Бундур – Сложный предмет
- Conversation 4: On Place by Rosmarie Waldrop
- Огюст Барбье – Роберт Эммет
- Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies
- Василий Курочкин – Двуглавый орел
- Юлия Друнина – Ты рядом
- Baby Charley. by Sidney Lanier
- Николай Заболоцкий – Тбилисские ночи
- English Poetry. William Barnes. Second Collection. The Heäre. Уильям Барнс.
- Федор Сологуб – Так нежен был внезапный поцелуй
- The Rwose In The Dark by William Barnes
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
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games – Canto 2 by William Somervile
- Hare-hunting by William Somervile
- Fortune-Hunter, The – Canto 5 by William Somervile
- Fortune-Hunter, The – Canto 3 by William Somervile
- Fortune-Hunter, The – Canto 1 by William Somervile
- For the Lute by William Somervile
- First let the kennel be the huntsman’s care by William Somervile
- Field Sports by William Somervile
- Epistle from Mr. Somerville, An by William Somervile
- Chase, The – Book 1 by William Somervile
- All-Accomplished Rover by William Somervile
- Advice to the Ladies by William Somervile
- Address to His Elbow-Chair, New Cloath’d, An by William Somervile
- A Padlock for the Mouth by William Somervile
- “Young England–What Is Then Become Of Old” by William Wordsworth
- Yew-Trees by William Wordsworth
- “Yes! Thou Art Fair, Yet Be Not Moved” by William Wordsworth
- Yes, It Was The Mountain Echo by William Wordsworth
- Yarrow Visited by William Wordsworth
- Yarrow Unvisited by William Wordsworth
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.