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:
- Written In Cananore
- In My Own Shire, If I Was Sad poem – A. E. Housman
- Because I’ve Learned by William Ellery Leonard
- Notice by Steve Kowit
- Prologue to Rodin in Rime poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Copper Beech by Marie Howe
- Владимир Агатов – Бессмертный Ленинград
- Ольга Берггольц – И вновь одна, совсем одна в дорогу
- Epigram on an Innkeeper (“The Marquis”) by Robert Burns
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 39. Old warder of these buried bones poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- A Faded Postcard Is A Tanka Daydream
- Teacher
- Олег Григорьев – Разбил в туалете сосуд
- Аля Кудряшева – Меня мотает тянет ведет налево
- Robert Burns: Epistle To John Maxwell, ESQ., Of Terraughty : On His Birthday.
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 Instructor by Rudyard Kipling
- The Hyaenas by Rudyard Kipling
- The Houses by Rudyard Kipling
- The Heritage by Rudyard Kipling
- The Greek National Anthem by Rudyard Kipling
- The Grave of the Hundered Head by Rudyard Kipling
- The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling
- The Gipsy Trail by Rudyard Kipling
- The Gift of the Sea by Rudyard Kipling
- The Galley-Slave by Rudyard Kipling
- The Floods by Rudyard Kipling
- The Flight by Rudyard Kipling
- The First Chantey by Rudyard Kipling
- The Fires by Rudyard Kipling
- The Female of the Species by Rudyard Kipling
- The Fall of Jock Gillespie by Rudyard Kipling
- The Fairies’ Siege by Rudyard Kipling
- The Fabulists by Rudyard Kipling
- The Explorer by Rudyard Kipling
- The Explanation by Rudyard Kipling
More external links (open in a new tab):
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Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
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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.