Hopie Girl Leah Poem by Brandon Brown

Hopie-Girl-Leah

After Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee"

It was many and many a year ago,
In our home in Native Country,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Baybie Hopie;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
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I loved as a child, and she was a child,
In our home in Native Country,
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Baybie Hopie—
With a love that even our Beloved
Coveted her and me.
⠀
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In our home in Native Country,
A fire of Power stormed out, burning
My beautiful Hopie-Girl-Leah;
So that her far-off kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To leave me here in a sepulchre,
Alone in Native Country.
⠀
The demons, not half so happy in Hell,
They wanted sweet babies—all three!
Yes! —that was the reason (as all of Them know—
The Powers of Native Country)
That the flame came out of Power and fright,
Burning and stealing all love that would be,
By creating a weapon they wielded with might—
Our heroine—Hopie-Girl-Leah.
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But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither our Beloved
Nor the demons of Native Country
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of my beautiful Hopie-Girl-Leah.
⠀
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of my beautiful Baybie Hopie;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright blue eyes
Of my beautiful Baybie Hopie;
And so, all through night-time, her memory lies at my side,
My darling—my darling—my life and my pride,
In my torturous tomb, all alone—three decades decreed!
Rotting, sepulchred here in Native Country.