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"Elenore" Written by Iris R

"The Raven"

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
—Edgar Allan Poe

And I wept, I wept, I wept for me

I went back to my volume of forgotten midwife’s lore
Left them there on the soft cushioned floor,
So weary was I under soft covers I did creep
Into slumber I fell in deep

An eerie silence embarked my chamber
Except for the ragged breathing air turning into vapor
Faint Inside the chilling blanket of the smog
My senses were slowly getting lost into a strange fog

Deep in my mind visions demanded I wake
I had to arise for my soul’s sake
Evil was lurking outside my gate doors
As witches brewed and brooms they did soar
Zombie and vampire crawled out of unholy tomb
Werewolf to a gory feed prepared under a full moon

In nightmare’s delirium in strange tongues I did speak
From afar I heard a voice uttering “Hurry, she is growing week
If her soul alive we are to keep, we mustn’t wait any longer
Get the midwife to attend to the birth of my daughter!”

Suddenly there was a gentle tapping, a rapping and then a loud banging
The window swept open as I heard flapping
Things started to tumble and fall on my cushioned floor
As fresh air started flowing in, aghast I fled and opened icy, heavy gate doors

I heard the stomping of horses hooves
The howling of angry wolves
The flapping of a raven’s feathered wings
“Get in, get in, a message from the master this bird brings!”

Wide awake by now I did what I was told
Waiting for my dire fate to unfold
I cowered in the carriage’s floor
The raven shrieking “Nevermore, Nevermore!”

Hooves flying not touching ground
Above away from the nights curdling sounds
Deeper into where terror bounds
Where insanity takes hold and there is no turning around

The stench of an old house of haunting and crumbling
Shadows and creepy noises in my senses were tumbling
And there took hold visions of horrors old
Waves of nausea and swooning just rolled and rolled
Judges and lifeless specters vanished gently into the nothingness of illusion
Trembling I asked for forgiveness for my repulsive intrusion.

A gentle tapping, a rapping on a far hallway door
Who opens the door? Tis no other than Nevermore!!
Chills and shivers ran down my spine
As I whined and whined in this dark tale of mine
Imprisoned in this house of old
Where innocents were tortured in legends told

Icy fingers up and down my spine shoved me from the back
“Hurry midwife, tis time we lack!”
I didn’t see who it was, he didn’t care to show his face
As he took me to where the birth was taking place

Oh, she was lovely this woman with her face so pale
I knew her last breath she would soon exhale
She managed these words, “Please take care of my child
Don’t let her father take her, hear his laugh; his mind has gone wild!”

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I wept weak and weary,
For a specter from the grave, one of great beauty
One with no name had birthed a flower unfurled
I rejoiced with this new life; a girl….
There was an unruly tapping and a rapping at the door
And as it opened I heard with an unholy laugh “Her name is Elenore!”.
And I wept, I wept, I wept for me

Every night there was a tapping a rapping at the door
“It’s time for your bedtime story Elenore”
At an age that was so young and tender
Poe’s were the only stories he ever read to her

In the darkness we sensed a feeding of our fear
Upon us ghoulish eyes and a wicked sneer
And every night as he left and closed that door
Nightmares had us trembling in corners of the bedroom floor

Elenore so young, Elenore so small
There’s writing with blood on the wall
She’s waiting, waiting for the tapping of the bedroom door.
“Tis you who taps and raps at my door, tis you Leonor?”
But she is always answered “Nevermore, Nevermore”
Ghouls, bats and hoofs of horses amidst a mindless dream
Hear Elenore’s shrilling laugh and hear her mad screams
And I wept, I wept and I wept for me

In my frenzied state I cried, "Show yourself, father of this child
Don’t you know that of fright our minds have gone wild?
Suddenly his voice I heard,
As in a ghostly whisper he assured
“I am coming, midwife dear,
Yes, ‘tis true I’m very near.
Elenore, come to my embrace, your Dad is here”
And I wept, I wept, I wept for me


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