A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
A Nation of trees, drab green and desolate grey
In the field uniform of modern wars,
Darkens her hills, those endless, outstretched paws
Of Sphinx demolished or stone lion worn away.
They call her a young country, but they lie:
She is the last of lands, the emptiest,
A woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry.
Without songs, architecture, history:
The emotions and superstitions of younger lands,
Her rivers of water drown among inland sands,
The river of her immense stupidity
Floods her monotonous tribes from Cairns to Perth.
In them at last the ultimate men arrive
Whose boast is not: “we live” but “we survive”,
A type who will inhabit the dying earth.
And her five cities, like five teeming sores,
Each drains her: a vast parasite robber-state
Where second hand Europeans pullulate
Timidly on the edge of alien shores.
Yet there are some like me turn gladly home
From the lush jungle of modern thought, to find
The Arabian desert of the human mind,
Hoping, if still from the deserts the prophets come,
Such savage and scarlet as no green hills dare
Springs in that waste, some spirit which escapes
The learned doubt, the chatter of cultured apes
Which is called civilization over there.
A few random poems:
- Martin’s Tide by William Barnes
- Владимир Высоцкий – Случай на таможне
- The Narrative by Talha Jafri
- Николай Языков – Чувствительное путешествие в Ревель
- The Gardener XXXIV: Do Not Go, My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- Robert Burns: On Wm. Graham, Esq., Of Mossknowe:
- Sonnet: As From The Darkening Gloom A Silver Dove poem – John Keats poems
- At The Close Of The Canvass poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Высоцкий – Дорожный дневник: Часть IV
- Free Fantasia On Japanese Themes poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Conquistador
- Some Kiss We Want by Rumi
- Robert Burns: Address To The Unco Guid, Or The Rigidly Righteous:
- His Poetry His Pillar by Robert Herrick
- 1991-I by Wendell Berry
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
- Николай Языков – Е. А. Тимашевой (Молодая ученица)
- Николай Языков – Е. А. Свербеевой (Мысль неразгульного поэта)
- Николай Языков – Две картины
- Николай Языков – Дума (Одну минуту, много две)
- Николай Языков – Дом сумасшедших в Дерпте
- Николай Языков – Девятое мая
- Николай Языков – Дева ночи
- Николай Языков – Давным-давно люблю я страстно
- Николай Языков – Д. Н. Свербееву (Во имя Руси, милый брат)
- Николай Языков – Чувствительное путешествие в Ревель
- Николай Языков – Благодарю вас за цветы
- Николай Языков – Баян к русскому воину
- Николай Языков – Ау
- Николай Языков – Альпийская песня
- Николай Языков – Аделаиде (Я твой, я твой, Аделаида)
- Николай Языков – А. В. Тихвинскому (Как знать, куда моя дорога)
- Николай Языков – А. В. Киреевой (Тогда как сердцем мы лелеем)
- Николай Языков – А. С. Дириной
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Вульфу (Теперь я в Камби, милый мой)
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Вульфу (Нe называй меня поэтом)
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.