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:
- Oh My Father, I am Yusif by Mahmoud Darwish
- Илья Зданевич – Экспромт
- About The Sheltered Garden Ground by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Letter To Doctor Ingelo, then With My Lord Whitlock, Amba poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Владимир Костров – В керосиновой лампе
- Makers And Creatures by Vernon Scannell
- A Poem to my Beloved by Walter William Safar
- Election Ballad at close of Contest for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790 by Robert Burns
- Владимир Маяковский – Еще Петербург
- Юрий Котов – Ты что-же боль, меня не отпускаешь
- The Titanic poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- In Memoriam 82: I Wage Not Any Feud With Death poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- William Stanley Merwin – William Stanley Merwin
- Chorus of Athenians poem – Alexander Pope
- The Song of the Little Hunter by Rudyard Kipling
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
- Hero by Siegfried Sassoon
- Haunted by Siegfried Sassoon
- Golgotha by Siegfried Sassoon
- Goblin Revel by Siegfried Sassoon
- Glory Of Women by Siegfried Sassoon
- France by Siegfried Sassoon
- Fight to a Finish by Siegfried Sassoon
- Fancy Dress by Siegfried Sassoon
- Falling Asleep by Siegfried Sassoon
- Everyone Sang by Siegfried Sassoon
- Enemies by Siegfried Sassoon
- Elegy by Siegfried Sassoon
- Editorial Impressions by Siegfried Sassoon
- Dryads by Siegfried Sassoon
- Dreamers by Siegfried Sassoon
- Dream-Forest by Siegfried Sassoon
- Does It Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon
- Died of Wounds by Siegfried Sassoon
- Devotion to Duty by Siegfried Sassoon
- Dead Musicians by Siegfried Sassoon
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.