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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Notre-Dame
- SOMALIA CALLING by Satish Verma
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 83. Dip down upon the northern shore poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Robert Burns: Damon And Sylvia: Fragment
- Grace Before Song poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known by William Wordsworth
- Coming Close by Philip Levine
- Олег Бундур – У кромки моря
- Gift Of The Great – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Sonnet 102: My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming by William Shakespeare
- Repression of War Experience by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Vaïces That Be Gone by William Barnes
- Владимир Маяковский – Проч руки от Китая
- A King’s Soliloquy [On the Night of His Funeral] by Thomas Hardy
- Омар Хайям – Чем ниже человек душой, тем выше задирает нос
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
- Like Truthless Dreams, So Are My Joys Expired by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Life by Sir Walter Raleigh
- His Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Her Reply by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Farewell to the Court by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Epitaph by Sir Walter Raleigh
- A Literature Lesson. Sir Patrick Spens in the Eighteenth Century Manner by Sir Walter Raleigh
- A Farewell to False Love by Sir Walter Raleigh
- On Catullus by Walter Savage Landor
- Of Clementina by Walter Savage Landor
- Corinna, from Athens, to Tanagra by Walter Savage Landor
- Ianthe! You are Call’d to Cross the Sea by Walter Savage Landor
- Mother, I cannot mind my Wheel by Walter Savage Landor
- Ianthe by Walter Savage Landor
- Child of a Day by Walter Savage Landor
- Late Leaves by Walter Savage Landor
- One Lovely Name by Walter Savage Landor
- On An Eclipse Of The Moon by Walter Savage Landor
- Mild is the Parting Year by Walter Savage Landor
- I Entreat You, Alfred Tennyson by Walter Savage Landor
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.