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 Queen’s Rival by Sarojini Naidu
- Mr Anonymous, a life by Raj Arumugam
- Ольга Берггольц – Вот я выбирала для разлуки
- Master Valluvan, the long-misunderstood Tamil Mentor by T. Wignesan
- Oblivion by Satish Verma
- The English Flag by Rudyard Kipling
- The Dead King by Rudyard Kipling
- Федор Сологуб – Под сению креста рыдающая мать
- Олег Бундур – Тропа
- The Spring by Thomas Carew
- Caledonia: A Ballad by Robert Burns
- Низами Гянджеви – Я бросил молодость в пожар моей любви
- The Mother by Patrick Pearse
- Song of the Redwood-Tree. by Walt Whitman
- V: Some Verses: To The Author Parthenius by William Alexander
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
- A Hedge Of Rubber Trees poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- On The Disadvantages Of Central Heating poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Catalpa Tree On West Twelfth Street poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nothing Stays Put poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Fog poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Exmoor poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Easter Morning poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Beach Glass poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Silence poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Hermit Thrush poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Hedge Of Rubber Trees poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Catalpa Tree On West Twelfth Street poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Joe Biden, a Ghazal
- The sky has never seen such a moon
- Ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali
- Joe Biden’s Torment
- Insolent couplets
- An Insolent Jew
- Soliloquy In A Tub poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Reviving My Feminity poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
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.