A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.
Words scored upon a bone,
Scratched in despair or rage —
Nine hundred years have gone;
Now, in another age,
They burn with passion on
A scholar’s tranquil page.
The scholar takes his pen
And turns the bone about,
And writes those words again.
Once more they seethe and shout
And through a human brain
Undying hate rings out.
“I loved her when a maid;
I loathe and love the wife
That warms another’s bed:
Let him beware his life!”
The scholar’s hand is stayed;
His pen becomes a knife
To grave in living bone
The fierce archaic cry.
He sits and reads his own
Dull sum of misery.
A thousand years have flown
Before that ink is dry.
And, in a foreign tongue,
A man, who is not he,
Reads and his heart is wrung
This ancient grief to see,
And thinks: When I am dung,
What bone shall speak for me?
A few random poems:
- Sonnet 70: That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect by William Shakespeare
- As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shores. by Walt Whitman
- When the Great Ark by Rudyard Kipling
- Book Thirteenth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored Concluded] by William Wordsworth
- Love Sonnet XXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems | Poetry Monster
- Golgotha by Siegfried Sassoon
- Conversation
- Владимир Костров – Срок настал, московская богема
- Ode To A Harmonica
- Владимир Высоцкий – Грицюку
- My New-Cut Ashler by Rudyard Kipling
- Sonnet 136: If thy soul check thee that I come so near by William Shakespeare
- On Calais Sands poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Charm by Rudyard Kipling
- The Astronomer by Rabindranath Tagore
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 Британишский – На конференции молодых геофизиков
- Владимир Британишский – На берегу
- Владимир Британишский – Мы топор и лопату кладем про запас
- Владимир Британишский – Мы кончили нашу работу
- Владимир Британишский – Можга
- Владимир Британишский – Молодой Толстой
- Владимир Британишский – Молния ударяет
- Владимир Британишский – Мне скучно
- Владимир Британишский – Младший брат
- Владимир Британишский – Меня благословил старик Бажов
- Владимир Британишский – Матери моей
- Владимир Британишский – Март солнечный
- Владимир Британишский – Мальчики, девочки, литстудийцы
- Владимир Британишский – Лохматую белую собаку
- Владимир Британишский – Лето 1845 года в Соколове
- Владимир Британишский – Ладожский канал
- Владимир Британишский – Кваренги
- Владимир Британишский – Куда ты уйдешь
- Владимир Британишский – Крылов и тверяки
- Владимир Британишский – Крик ворон
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.