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:
- Михаил Лермонтов – Всевышний произнес свой приговор
- Farewell by Wang Wei
- Ок Мельникова – Всё будет
- The Spring passing away by Shailendra Chauhan
- I have a dream
- Вера Павлова – Покамест я всем детям тётя
- Sonet 34 by William Alexander
- Вера Павлова – Твоя хладность
- Владимир Солоухин – У моря
- New Land
- You Ask Why Sometimes I Say Stop by Marge Piercy
- The Great Adventure Of Max Breuck poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Михаил Кузмин – Вы молчаливо-нежное дитя
- Good-bye by Walter de la Mare
- Criss-Cross Acrostic*: Ai My Eye ! by T. Wignesan
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
- Юлия Друнина – Сверстницам
- Юлия Друнина – Страна Юность
- Юлия Друнина – Старый Крым
- Юлия Друнина – Старая лента, обугленный лес
- Юлия Друнина – Стал холоден мой тёплый старый дом
- Юлия Друнина – Сочетание
- Юлия Друнина – Слалом
- Юлия Друнина – Шторм
- Юлия Друнина – Ржавчина
- Юлия Друнина – Русский вечер
- Юлия Жадовская – Заколдованное сердце
- Юлия Жадовская – Я все хочу расслушать
- Юлия Жадовская – Всё ты уносишь, нещадное время
- Юлия Жадовская – Возврат весны
- Юлия Жадовская – Лучший перл таится
- Юлия Жадовская – Говорят придет пора
- Юлия Жадовская – Да, я вижу
- Юлия Жадовская – Чем ярче шумный пир
- Юлия Жадовская – Ах, бабушкин сад
- Юнна Мориц – Зимнее
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.