1. 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 wingéd 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 highborn kinsmen 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 the 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.