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:
- Stars
- My Father was a Farmer: A Ballad by Robert Burns
- Sonnet 65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea by William Shakespeare
- let’s love the lawn by Raj Arumugam
- Нина Воронель – Меня пугает власть моя над миром
- Илья Зданевич – Опять на жизненную скуку
- A First Confession by William Butler Yeats
- Interlude: Songs Out Of Sorrow by Sara Teasdale
- Олег Григорьев – Дружба
- Leszko The Bastard poem – Alfred Austin
- Алексей Жемчужников – Зимнее чувство
- Of Love and All by Raja Mannar
- Владимир Костров – Что может знать чужак
- Владимир Маяковский – Плюшкин
- Robert Burns: Epigram On A Country Laird,: not quite so wise as Solomon.
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
- The Match poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Mower Against Gardens poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Garden poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Gallery poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The First Anniversary Of The Government Under O.C. poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Fair Singer poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Death of Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Coronet poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Character Of Holland poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Senec. Traged. Ex Thyeste Chor.2 poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Ros poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On The Victory Obtained By Blake Over the Spaniards, In The Bay Of Scanctacruze, In The Island Of teneriff.1657 poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On Mr. Milton’s Paradise Lost poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- On A Drop Of Dew poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Mourning poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Music’s Empire poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Last Instructions to a Painter poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- In Effigiem Oliveri Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Hortus poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome poem – Andrew Marvell 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.