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:
- How a Little Girl Sang by Vachel Lindsay
- The Maid Vor My Bride by William Barnes
- Rhyme by the Bog by Robby Charters
- Great Men Have Been Among Us by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Lines Inscribed In A Lady’s Pocket Almanac:
- a_dialogue.html
- Two Sonnets. To Haydon, With A Sonnet Written On Seeing The Elgin Marbles poem – John Keats poems
- English Poetry. Mark Akenside. The Pleasures of Imagination. Марк Эйкенсайд.
- Insensibility by Wilfred Owen
- human_joys.html
- Introduction to the Songs of Innocence by William Blake
- A Carol by Rudyard Kipling
- The Rape of the Lock: Canto 5 poem – Alexander Pope
- The Best Time Of The Day by Raymond Carver
- Вера Полозкова – Есть дерево, в лесу всего древней
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
- Sonnet 08 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 07 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 06 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 05 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 04 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 03: Canzone poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 03 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 02 poem – John Milton poems
- Sonnet 01 poem – John Milton poems
- Song On May Morning poem – John Milton poems
- Samson Agonistes poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 88 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 87 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 86 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 85 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 84 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 83 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 82 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 81 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 80 poem – John Milton poems
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.