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:
- In A Garden by Sara Teasdale
- In Salutation to the Eternal Peace by Sarojini Naidu
- The Discovery of the Kama Sutra by Raj Arumugam
- The One-Legged Man by Siegfried Sassoon
- Nay Not To Night
- don_juan.html
- Broken Love by Talha Jafri
- Владимир Маяковский – Нас потеснили… (РОСТА №337)
- Spirit That Form’d This Scene. by Walt Whitman
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- The Brigs of Ayr by Robert Burns
- from The Tenth Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Владимир Маяковский – Последняя петербургская сказка
- Yarrow Visited by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad:
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 – Дочери
- Юлия Друнина – Девчонка – что надо!
- Юлия Друнина – Да, сердце часто ошибалось
- Юлия Друнина – Чтоб человек от стужи не застыл
- Юлия Друнина – Целовались
- Юлия Друнина – Царевна
- Юлия Друнина – Большой ребёнок ты
- Юлия Друнина – Бинты
- Юлия Друнина – Бежала от морозов, вот беда
- Юлия Друнина – Бережем тех, кого любим
- Юлия Друнина – Баллада о десанте
- Юлия Друнина – Альпинисту
- Юлия Друнина – А всё равно
- Юлия Друнина – Зной
- Юлия Друнина – Зима, зима нагрянет скоро
- Юлия Друнина – Жизнь моя не катилась
- Юлия Друнина – Здесь продают билеты на Парнас
- Юлия Друнина – Запас прочности
- Юлия Друнина – Забытая тетрадь, Истертые листы
- Юлия Друнина – Ялта Чехова
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.