William Stanley Braithwaite, "La Belle De Demerara" (1907)
Eyes like a tropic night when dew
Makes the air heavy to the sea's rim;
Figure like a willow, subtle, slim,
That had the grace of a young queen;
Hair, as the Empress Josephine
Fashioned, when Paris bowed to her
--La Belle de Demerara.
I see it all as in a dream
Georgetown's seawall, where the stream
Of Quality flows; among them moves
She, whom the city's pride approves,
What beauty gave and virtue crowned
When music charmed their lips to sound
This name their hearts bestowed on her,
--La Belle de Demerara.
Sir Francis Hincks, at Government House
On a gala night before her bows;
Out from England on duty sent
The Colonel of the regiment
Glides with her in the stately dance;
And in her soft vivacious glance
Chief-Justice Beaumont bends to her
--La Belle de Demerara.
O Poet who sang of Dorothy Q.,
I have a great-grandmother too;
Born in a British colonial place,
Sent to learn Parisian grace;
Who won all hearts in her demesne
By the far deep blue Carribbean
And large is the debt I owe to her,
--La Belle de Demerara.
Published in The Voice of the Negro, June 1907