Annabel Lee

Stanza I

¹It was many and many a year ago,

²In a kingdom by the sea,

³That a maiden there lived whom you may know

⁴By the name of Annabel Lee;

⁵And this maiden she lived with no other thought

⁶Than to love and be loved by me.

Stanza II

⁷I was a child and she was a child,

⁸In this kingdom by the sea,

⁹But we loved with a love that was more than love —

¹⁰I and my Annabel Lee —

¹¹With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

¹²Coveted her and me.

Stanza III

¹³And this was the reason that, long ago,

¹⁴In this kingdom by the sea,

¹⁵A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

¹⁶My beautiful Annabel Lee;

¹⁷So that her highborn kinsmen came

¹⁸And bore her away from me,

¹⁹To shut her up in a sepulchre

²⁰In this kingdom by the sea.

Stanza IV

²¹The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

²²Went envying her and me —

²³Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,

²⁴In this kingdom by the sea)

²⁵That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

²⁶Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

Stanza V

²⁷But our love it was stronger by far than the love

²⁸Of those who were older than we —

²⁹Of many far wiser than we —

³⁰And neither the angels in Heaven above

³¹Nor the demons down under the sea

³²Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

³³Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

Stanza VI

³⁴For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

³⁵Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

³⁶And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

³⁷Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

³⁸And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

³⁹Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,

⁴⁰In her sepulchre there by the sea —

⁴¹In her tomb by the sounding sea.