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:
- Владимир Корнилов – Сызнова
- In Tara’s Halls by William Butler Yeats
- I Saw His Round Mouth’s Crimson by Wilfred Owen
- in_between_the_strophes.html
- The joyful things in life by Martin Smith
- Who Would Not Die For England! poem – Alfred Austin
- Николай Заболоцкий – Обводной канал
- Farewell to Hsin Chien at Hibiscus Pavilion by Wang Wei
- The Tears In Cupid’s Eyes by Tupac Shakur
- Olney Hymn 29: Exhortation To Prayer by William Cowper
- The Treasure by Sara Teasdale
- The Death Of Myth-Making by Sylvia Plath
- My life – “An ambiguous journey” by Vasishta Sharma Gudi
- The Floods by Rudyard Kipling
- Валерий Брюсов – Пленный лев
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
- Степан Щипачев – Потомкам
- Степан Щипачев – По дороге в совхоз
- Степан Щипачев – Опять тревожно, больно сердцу стало
- Степан Щипачев – Обращение к времени
- Степан Щипачев – Не громок, не бросок мой стих
- Степан Щипачев – Любовью дорожить умейте
- Степан Щипачев – Лил дождь осенний
- Степан Щипачев – Ладонь
- Степан Щипачев – Голос
- Степан Щипачев – День
- Степан Щипачев – Березка
- Степан Щипачев – Атака
- Стефан Малларме – Звенящий зимний день
- Стефан Малларме – Записка Уистлеру
- Стефан Малларме – Вздох
- Стефан Малларме – Весеннее обновление
- Стефан Малларме – В идоложертвенном ликующем костре
- Стефан Малларме – В альбом
- Стефан Малларме – Устав от горького бездействия и лени
- Стефан Малларме – Появление
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.