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:
- The Essay on Liberty by Abraham Cowley
- Man Kunto Maula poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: M’Pherson’s Farewell:
- Владимир Степанов – В лесу осиновом
- Николай Заболоцкий – Сон
- I Found A Few Old Letters by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Demon by Shawn Ervin
- My Mother Would Be a Falconress by Robert Duncan
- Medusa by Sylvia Plath
- Orlando Furioso Canto 7 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow by Robert Duncan
- Анатолий Жигулин – О, жизнь! Я всё тебе прощаю
- Olney Hymn 43: Prayer For Patience by William Cowper
- Sonnet CXXII by William Shakespeare
- The Boy by Vinko Kalinić
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
- The First Part: Sonnet 10 – Fair Moon, who with thy cold and silver shine by William Drummond
- The First Part: Sonnet 1 – In my first years, and prime yet not at height by William Drummond
- The Editor by William Ellery Leonard
- The Book Of The World by William Drummond
- The Beggar by William Ellery Leonard
- Reading by William Marr
- Premature Blindness by Winston Riley
- May-Night by William Ellery Leonard
- Man’s Knowledge – Ingorance in the Mysteries of God by William Drummond
- Indian Summer by William Ellery Leonard
- In the Small Hours by Wole Soyinka
- In Christ there is No East Or West by John Oxenham
- His Mercy Endureth For Ever by John Oxenham
- Harp Song of the Dane Women by Rudyard Kipling
- God Is Good by John Oxenham
- Gadara, A.D. 31 by John Oxenham
- Freemen by John Oxenham
- Free Men Of God by John Oxenham
- For the Men at the Front by John Oxenham
- Flowers Of The Dust by John Oxenham
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.