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:
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Мне ль позабыть огонь и живость)
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 06 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Ольга Седакова – Когда говорю я: помилуй
- Candles by Sylvia Plath
- Savour Your Life by Ronald G. Auguste
- divided_passion.html
- Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса
- XII: Some Verses: Sonnet, To The Authour by William Alexander
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- Child by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Маяковский – В мире два класса… (РОСТА №501)
- Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Helen Of Troy by Sara Teasdale
- Владимир Маяковский – Служака
- Олег Бундур – Под сосной
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
- A Scot To Jeanne D’Arc poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Portrait Of 1783 poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Highly Valuable Chain Of Thoughts poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Young Love poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Upon The Hill And Grove At Bill-borow poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Upon An Eunuch; A Poet. Fragment poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Upon Appleton House, to My Lord Fairfax poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Translated poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Tom May’s Death poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- To Songs At the Marriage Of The Lord Fauconberg And The Lady Mary Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- To His Worthy Friend Doctor Witty Upon His Translation Of The Popular Errors poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- to_his_coy_mistress.html
- To His Noble Friend, Mr. Richard Lovelace, Upon His Poems poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- To Christina, Queen of Sweden poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Thoughts in a Garden poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Unfortunate Lover poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Picture Of Little T.C. In A Prospect Of Flowers poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Mower’s Song poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Nymph Complaining For The Death Of Her Faun poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Mower To The Glo-Worms 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.