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:
- Apprehensions by Sylvia Plath
- Ольга Берггольц – Ты будешь ждать
- Love’s Fitfulness poem – Alfred Austin
- Listen Beloved
- Николай Тихонов – Инд
- Ballade Of Sleep poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Юнна Мориц – Хорошо быть молодым
- Олег Бундур – Я вырасту, мама
- Tony Harrison – Tony Harrison
- Reconciliation by Siegfried Sassoon
- I Won, You Lost by Philip Levine
- Ballad Of The Despairing Husband by Robert Creeley
- Огюст Барбье – Корреджо
- The Other Side of Panic by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Валерий Брюсов – Из арабской лирики отрывок
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
- do you believe in always by Steve Troyanovich
- cascades of emptiness by Steve Troyanovich
- … and the moon was sleeping by Steve Troyanovich
- ambiguities of absence by Steve Troyanovich
- Who Would Of Knew…..About Your Concept!!! (July 10th) by Stevens Cadet
- The Future Promise Letter by Stevens Cadet
- Sometimes….Life’s A Beach by Stevens Cadet
- Passion Of My Heart by Stevens Cadet
- Nobody Told Me Of These Nights (A Poem For Melanie) by Stevens Cadet
- A Night With Passion! by Stevens Cadet
- Lyfe by Stevens Cadet
- Cupid’s Reign Of Terror (March 2012) by Stevens Cadet
- The Captain by Stevens Cadet
- Better Days by Stevens Cadet
- A Poem For Ashleigh (July) by Stevens Cadet
- A Pen Wrote The Funeral by Stevens Cadet
- A Morning Letter by Stevens Cadet
- The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith
- The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith
- Tenuous And Precarious by Stevie Smith
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.