A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Gliding through the still air, he made no sound;
Wing-shod and deft, dropped almost at her feet,
And searched the ghostly regiments and found
The living eyes, the tremor of breath, the beat
Of blood in all that bodiless underground.
She left her majesty; she loosed the zone
Of darkness and put by the rod of dread.
Standing, she turned her back upon the throne
Where, well she knew, the Ruler of the Dead,
Lord of her body and being, sat like stone;
Stared with his ravenous eyes to see her shake
The midnight drifting from her loosened hair,
The girl once more in all her actions wake,
The blush of colour in her cheeks appear
Lost with her flowers that day beside the lake.
The summer flowers scattering, the shout,
The black manes plunging down to the black pit —
Memory or dream? She stood awhile in doubt,
Then touched the Traveller God’s brown arm and met
His cool, bright glance and heard his words ring out:
“Queen of the Dead and Mistress of the Year!”
— His voice was the ripe ripple of the corn;
The touch of dew, the rush of morning air —
“Remember now the world where you were born;
The month of your return at last is here.”
And still she did not speak, but turned again
Looking for answer, for anger, for command:
The eyes of Dis were shut upon their pain;
Calm as his marble brow, the marble hand
Slept on his knee. Insuperable disdain
Foreknowing all bounds of passion, of power, of art,
Mastered but could not mask his deep despair.
Even as she turned with Hermes to depart,
Looking her last on her grim ravisher
For the first time she loved him from her heart.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Корнилов – Державинское
- Verses On A Young Lady (playing harpsichord, and singing) by Tobias Smollett
- politeness.html
- Ольга Ермолаева – Всю эту печаль невозможно вместить целиком
- Robert Burns: Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish:
- Илона Грошева – Любовь две синички на ветке
- Владимир Высоцкий – Веселая покойницкая
- The Witching Hour by Norma Martiri
- Female Author by Sylvia Plath
- Sonnet 113: Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind by William Shakespeare
- Такахама Кёси – Мацумуси пищит
- Lovers on Aran by Seamus Heaney
- The Arrival Of The Bee Box by Sylvia Plath
- TEMPORARY AND NOW by PEGGY AYLSWORTH
- Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament (excerpt) poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson 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
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Evasion. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- 10 Valentine’s Day Scrapbooking Ideas With or Without Photos
- The Poetical Works of Tiruloka Sitaram With Translation and Notes – Part II
- Learn Numbers With Fun Counting Rhymes For Kids
- African Artists’ Painting Inspiration
- Self-Care for Creative Artists: 10 Reasons To Care About It
- Creativity Tool – The Five Senses
- Love, Romance, Relationship: Some Poetic Scenes!
- Whisper of the Star
- Comments: How to Write a Critical Appreciation of a Poem
- One Great Christmas Verse, Three Incomparable Gifts
- Reviewing When We Were Slugs!
- Breathing Stars, Inspiration and the Labyrinth of Correspondence
- Grow Up: Time to Give Up Your YA Books
- Writing Science Poetry
- In These Present Times How Worried Should We Be?
- 5 Top Sources of Inspiration That Will Help You Become a Successful Entrepreneur
- How to Write Creative Non-fiction
- Creative Writing For Stress Relief
- Publishing Poetry – How To Locate The Best Markets Where You Can See Your Poems In Print
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.