A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
What pleasures have great princes? These: to know
Themselves reputed mad with pride or power;
To speak few words — few words and short bring low
This ancient house, that city with flame devour;
To make old men, their father’s enemies,
Drunk on the vintage of the former age;
To have great painters show their mistresses
Naked to the succeeding time; engage
The cunning of able, treacherous ministers
To serve, despite themselves, the cause they hate,
And leave a prosperous kingdom to their heirs
Nursed by the caterpillars of the state;
To keep their spies in good men’s hearts; to read
The malice of the wise, and act betimes;
To hear the Grand Remonstrances of greed
Led by the pure; cheat justice of her crimes;
To beget worthless sons and, being old,
By starlight climb the battlements, and while
The pacing sentry hugs himself for cold,
Keep vigil like a lover, muse and smile,
And think, to see from the grim castle steep
The midnight city below rejoice and shine:
“There my great demon grumbles in his sleep
And dreams of his destruction, and of mine.”
A few random poems:
- Спиридон Дрожжин – Песня пахаря
- Terminal by Sylvia Plath
- The Child and the Mariner by William Henry Davies
- A Poetry Reading At West Point by William Matthews
- Evenèn, An’ Maidens Out At Door by William Barnes
- A Song : On The Green Margin by William Cowper
- Verses Left by Mr. Pope poem – Alexander Pope
- Ballade Of Cleopatra’s Needle poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Vote Excerpt
- Late Moon by Philip Levine
- Smiling Buddha by Satish Verma
- Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope
- Innocence
- Яков Полонский – Чайка
- Ballades V – Of His Choice Of A Sepulchre poem – Andrew Lang poems
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
- Fuck Israel
- Woman And The Weed poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Willie’s Ladye poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Waly, Waly poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Villion’s Ballade Of Good Counsel, To His Friends Of Evil Life poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Valentine In Form Of Ballade poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Three Portraits Of Prince Charles poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Wife Of Usher’s Well poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Twa Sisters poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Queen’s Marie poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Odyssey poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Moon’s Minion poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Loving Ballad Of Lord Bateman poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Laird Of Waristoun poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Heir Of Lynne poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Fairy’s Gift poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Elphin Nourrice poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Douglas Tragedy poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Burial Of Moliere poem – Andrew Lang poems
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.