A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
At noon thepaper tigers roar
— Miroslav Holub
The paper tigers roar at noon;
The sun is hot, the sun is high.
They roar in chorus, not in tune,
Their plaintive, savage hunting cry.
O, when you hear them, stop your ears
And clench your lids and bite your tongue.
The harmless paper tiger bears
Strong fascination for the young.
His forest is the busy street;
His dens the forum and the mart;
He drinks no blood, he tastes no meat:
He riddles and corrupts the heart.
But when the dusk begins to creep
From tree to tree, from door to door,
The jungle tiger wakes from sleep
And utters his authentic roar.
It bursts the night and shakes the stars
Till one breaks blazing from the sky;
Then listen! If to meet it soars
Your heart’s reverberating cry,
My child, then put aside your fear:
Unbar the door and walk outside!
The real tiger waits you there;
His golden eyes shall be your guide.
And, should he spare you in his wrath,
The world and all the worlds are yours;
And should he leap thejungle path
And clasp you with his bloody jaws,
Then say, as his divine embrace
Destroys the mortal parts of you:
I too am of that royal race
Who do what we are born to do.
A few random poems:
- Eve by Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Palace
- Robert Burns: Esteem For Chloris:
- Анатолий Жигулин – Иду в полях
- A Rhyme About an Electrical Advertising Sign by Vachel Lindsay
- Владимир Маяковский – Ни на Европу не надейся, ни на прокукиш, надейся только на свои руки (Главполитпросвет №343)
- Never Try To Trick Me With A Kiss by Sylvia Plath
- Новелла Матвеева – Закон песен
- Wind in the Beechwood by Siegfried Sassoon
- Basic Overhaul by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Gift Of The Great – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владимир Маяковский – Помогите цинготным детям (Главполитпросвет №274)
- Олег Сердобольский – Два кораблика
- The Colloquy Beneath by Margaret Marie Hubbard
- OPTIONS by Satish Verma
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 Dunciad: Book I. poem – Alexander Pope
- The Challenge: A Court Ballad poem – Alexander Pope
- The Basset-Table : An Eclogue poem – Alexander Pope
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope
- Summer – The Second Pastoral; or Alexis poem – Alexander Pope
- Spring – The First Pastoral ; or Damon poem – Alexander Pope
- Song, by a Person of Quality poem – Alexander Pope
- Sappho to Phaon (Ovid Heroid XV) poem – Alexander Pope
- Sandys Ghost ; A Proper Ballad on the New Ovid’s Metamorphosis poem – Alexander Pope
- Prayer of St. Francis Xavier poem – Alexander Pope
- On the Countess of Burlington Cutting Paper poem – Alexander Pope
- On Seeing the Ladies Crux-Easton Walk in the Woods by the Grotto. poem – Alexander Pope
- On Mr. Gay poem – Alexander Pope
- On His Grotto at Twickenham poem – Alexander Pope
- On Colley Cibber poem – Alexander Pope
- On Certain Ladies poem – Alexander Pope
- On a Fan of the Author’s Design poem – Alexander Pope
- On a Certain Lady at Court poem – Alexander Pope
- Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day poem – Alexander Pope
- Occasioned By Some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham poem – Alexander Pope
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.