Can you come up with a simple statement of what need you are trying to solve and why the other tools don't solve it?
I should also note that HOP::Lexer, like much that comes from the Higher Order Perl book, is deceptively simple. It is very simple, and looks very straightforward, but it is part of an incredibly flexible framework. You may find that with that you can accomplish whatever you wanted, even though at first glance it looks too simplistic.
Oh, and if you're looking for some more ideas, you might look at Functional take 2. (And the parent node as well, of course.)
