HOUSE ON THE HILL

An eerie shape stands silent
Amid
The tallow weeks and cottonwood.
It is an old grayed house
Where the outlaw, Jesse James
Once stood.

Mystery surrounds the leaning abode
Near the Bayou Mason
Where Quantrill rode.
Fine horses were once tied
To the front porch post,
But the sounds of many men riding
Is unheard by today's host,
An owl, a sparrow, and history's ghost.
Light warms the weathered wood,
An offering of the morning sun,
Surrounding the old house
Where once met
The Brotherhood of the six-gun.

By Reggie Anne Walker-Wyatt
Copyright 2002
Historical narrative based on Griffin House Near Epps, Louisiana.