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:
- Яков Полонский – Одному из усталых
- Владимир Гиляровский – Нива
- Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Наум Коржавин – Нелепые ваши затеи
- Friday’s Child by W H Auden
- First Day at School by Roger McGough
- Vellen O’ The Tree by William Barnes
- I have been tricked by flying too close by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Song At Capri by Sara Teasdale
- The Last of the Light Brigade by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Луговской – Баллада о пустыне
- Валерий Брюсов – Дождь
- Love’s Blindness poem – Alfred Austin
- Степан Щипачев – Тебе
- Владимир Маяковский – Разве у вас не чешутся обе лопатки
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
- November by William Cullen Bryant
- Mutation by William Cullen Bryant
- Love and Folly by William Cullen Bryant
- June by William Cullen Bryant
- Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood by William Cullen Bryant
- William Cullen Bryant – William Cullen Bryant
- Hymn To Death by William Cullen Bryant
- Hymn of the City by William Cullen Bryant
- Consumption by William Cullen Bryant
- After a Tempest by William Cullen Bryant
- A Song of Pitcairn’s Island by William Cullen Bryant
- A Forest Hymn by William Cullen Bryant
- William Henry Davies
- The Example by William Henry Davies
- The Dark Hour by William Henry Davies
- The Child and the Mariner by William Henry Davies
- The Boy by William Henry Davies
- The Bird of Paradise by William Henry Davies
- The Best Friend by William Henry Davies
- Sweet Stay-at-Home by William Henry Davies
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.