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:
- AN ODE FOR BEN JONSON by Robert Herrick
- A Dialogue Between Thyrsis And Dorinda poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Racial Memories of a Chickadee by Todd H. C. Fischer
- Hope Holds to Christ poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Summer poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Омар Хайям – Любя тебя, сношу я все упрёки
- The Great Conch Train Robbery by Shel Silverstein
- Robert Burns: The Banks Of The Devon:
- Sir Gawaine And The Green Knight by Yvor Winters
- Rosemary by Marianne Moore
- Shivratri The Night Of Shiva While The Procession Passed At Ramesram
- Second Epistle to J. Lapraik by Robert Burns
- An Apology for the Bottle Volcanic by Vachel Lindsay
- Владимир Набоков – Из мира уползли, и ноют на луне
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – В метро
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
- Иван Крылов – Ода, выбранная из псалма 14-го
- Иван Крылов – Лиса-строитель (Басня)
- Иван Крылов – Лев состаревшийся (Басня)
- Иван Козлов – Умирающая Эрменгарда
- Иван Коневской – Воскресение
- Иван Коневской – В небывалое
- Иван Елагин – Спрашивал ответа
- Иван Дмитриев – Сверчки
- Иван Дмитриев – Старик и трое молодых
- Иван Дмитриев – Смерть и Умирающий
- Иван Дмитриев – Слепец, Собака его и Школьник
- Иван Дмитриев – Шарлатан
- Иван Демьянов – Парикмахер рак-омар
- Иван Демьянов – Одежкин домик
- Иван Бунин – Норд-ост
- Иван Бунин – Ночного неба свод далекий
- Иван Бунин – Ночлег
- Иван Бунин – Ночь идет, и темнеет
- Иван Бунин – Никогда вы не воскреснете, не встанете
- Иван Бунин – Нет солнца, но светлы пруды
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.