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:
- In The Stilness O’ The Night by William Barnes
- Years of the Modern. by Walt Whitman
- Wednesday by Marvin Bell
- Collateral Damage by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant
- Шекспир – У сердца с глазом тайный договор – Сонет 47
- A Tale of the Sea by William Topaz McGonagall
- pathos_is_the_skyward_tanka.html
- Жан де Лафонтен – Осел и Собака
- Ghazal of Rumi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Аля Кудряшева – Помнишь, как это
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Hymn to Spiritual Desire. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- From The Long Sad Party by Mark Strand
- Elegy on the late Miss Burnet of Monboddo by Robert Burns
- On Tam the Chapman by Robert Burns
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
- Владимир Корнилов – В Македонии
- Владимир Корнилов – Утро
- Владимир Корнилов – Учитель
- Владимир Корнилов – Трофейный фильм
- Владимир Корнилов – Тоска
- Владимир Корнилов – Сызнова
- Владимир Корнилов – Суворов
- Владимир Корнилов – Стих стиху
- Владимир Корнилов – Старость
- Владимир Корнилов – Спортлото
- Владимир Корнилов – Спасенье
- Владимир Корнилов – Сорок лет спустя
- Владимир Корнилов – Соперник
- Владимир Корнилов – Собака подлеца
- Владимир Корнилов – Слово
- Владимир Корнилов – Слепец
- Владимир Корнилов – Щитовидка
- Владимир Корнилов – Рифма
- Владимир Корнилов – Репертуар
- Владимир Корнилов – Разговор
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.