...a collection of poems that sing, stun, or otherwise simply stick


Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
     In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
     By the name of ANNABEL LEE;--
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
     Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
     In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
     I and my Annabel Lee--
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
     Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
     In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night
     Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
     And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
     In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
     Went envying her and me:--
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
     In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling
     And killing my Annabel Lee.

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 the angels in Heaven above,
     Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:--

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
     In her sepulchre there by the sea--
     In her tomb by the side of the sea.


- Edgar Allan Poe