A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
At noon thepaper tigers roar
— Miroslav Holub
The paper tigers roar at noon;
The sun is hot, the sun is high.
They roar in chorus, not in tune,
Their plaintive, savage hunting cry.
O, when you hear them, stop your ears
And clench your lids and bite your tongue.
The harmless paper tiger bears
Strong fascination for the young.
His forest is the busy street;
His dens the forum and the mart;
He drinks no blood, he tastes no meat:
He riddles and corrupts the heart.
But when the dusk begins to creep
From tree to tree, from door to door,
The jungle tiger wakes from sleep
And utters his authentic roar.
It bursts the night and shakes the stars
Till one breaks blazing from the sky;
Then listen! If to meet it soars
Your heart’s reverberating cry,
My child, then put aside your fear:
Unbar the door and walk outside!
The real tiger waits you there;
His golden eyes shall be your guide.
And, should he spare you in his wrath,
The world and all the worlds are yours;
And should he leap thejungle path
And clasp you with his bloody jaws,
Then say, as his divine embrace
Destroys the mortal parts of you:
I too am of that royal race
Who do what we are born to do.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Британишский – Наш учитель истории
- Eloisa to Abelard poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Robert Burns: My Heart’s In The Highlands:
- Miracles by Paul Hostovsky
- At Last the Secret is Out by W H Auden
- Brooklyn Narcissus by Paul Blackburn
- Song of the Open Road. by Walt Whitman
- haiku
- the-infernal-regions.html
- Владимир Солоухин – Теперь-то уж плакать нечего
- Владимир Маяковский – Чтоб из недели “Заботы о достоянии” толку выйти, вот так, товарищи, агитацию ведите (Главполитпросвет №374)
- Владимир Высоцкий – Оловянные солдатики
- We know this much by Sappho
- No, Love Is Not Dead by Robert Desnos
- Conviction (iii) by Stevie Smith
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
- For Birds by Nithin Purple
- Flying Wishes by Osman cisse Hanif
- Femme Fatale by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Eye By Eye by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Evening by Olivia Lewis
- E-waste by Nisha Gopalakrishnan
- Dreamtime by Olivia Lewis
- Death Divine by Nithin Purple
- Dead Orchard by Nijole Miliauskaite
- CloSe To My Heart by Nishant Deherkar
- Children’s Taste by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Cambodian Flower by Norma Martiri
- Burnt in contemplation by Nishant Deherkar
- The Bonifratrian Hospital by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Blank by Nizar Sartawi
- Between Two Moments by Nizar Sartawi
- Between going and staying the day wavers by Octavio Paz
- Basic Overhaul by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Aquamarine Butterfly by Nina Gabriel
- An Elegy On The Glory Of Her Sex, Mrs Mary Blaize by Oliver Goldsmith
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.