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:
- Нина Воронель – Аэродром
- Николай Заболоцкий – Это было давно
- xai_kou_from_book_seeds_of_faith.html
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не заманишь меня на эстрадный концерт
- A Portrait poem – Alfred Austin
- Moment’s Indulgence by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Survivor by Primo Levi
- My Rival by Rudyard Kipling
- Usurpation
- Олег Григорьев – Прометей
- When Helen Lived by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня Марии
- Don’t Need Anything by Pat Mullan
- Юнна Мориц – Большой секрет для маленькой компании
- Epitaph on William Muir by Robert Burns
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
- Wild Dark Love Song by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- Evolution by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- There Were Dry Red Days by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- I Said Coffee by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- Peaceful Battles by Shekhar Srinivasan
- Passed Away Pain by Shalini Samuel
- Pain Became My Friend Today © by Shannen Wrass
- Open sky by Shailendra Chauhan
- On the edge of time by Shailendra Chauhan
- Life-companion by Shailendra Chauhan
- Joker of the Pack by Shekhar Srinivasan
- Its gonna be sunday by Shailendra Singh
- In her reach by Shailendra Chauhan
- Human Spirit by Shawn Ervin
- Emotions in exile by Shailendra Chauhan
- Desire for You by Seema Gupta
- Brother by Shashini Fernanadez
- At The Gate Of A Hospital by Shahida Latif
- Apathy by Shailendra Chauhan
- Agonizing picture of human existence(Rural Life) by Seema Gupta
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.