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:
- Sweeney among the Nightingales by T. S. Eliot
- Lover’s Gifts XLII: Are You a Mere Picture by Rabindranath Tagore
- An Address to Shakespeare by William Topaz McGonagall
- Нина Воронель – Август
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 02 by Torquato Tasso
- Иван Мятлев – Звезда
- Psalm 81 poem – John Milton poems
- On His Seventy-fifth Birthday by Walter Savage Landor
- Has Your Soul Sipped? by Wilfred Owen
- Coming To This by Mark Strand
- Address to the Unco Guid by Robert Burns
- Electra On Azalea Path by Sylvia Plath
- Огюст Барбье – Аллегри
- The Pulling Away by Timothy Cole
- The Soul of the City Receives the Gift of the Holy Spirit by Vachel Lindsay
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
- On Imagination by Phillis Wheatley
- On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley
- Ode To Neptune by Phillis Wheatley
- Niobe in Distress by Phillis Wheatley
- Isaiah LXIII by Phillis Wheatley
- Goliath Of Gath by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Morning by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To The Evening by Phillis Wheatley
- An Hymn To Humanity by Phillis Wheatley
- An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems by Phillis Wheatley
- A Rebus, By I. B. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Funeral Poem on the Death of C.E. by Phillis Wheatley
- A Farewel To America to Mrs. S. W. by Phillis Wheatley
- Subtlety
- An Invitation
- wonder life by PALLAVI SINGH
- Why do ye torture me? by Patrick Pearse
- When I Looked At You by Patrick Neo Mabiletsa
- What I Love by Pamela L. Laskin
- Twelve Years by Paul Celan
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.