Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe
1849

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.

I was a child and she 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)
A wind blew out of a cloud by night, 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 of heaven above
    Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever disever 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 feel 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 the sepulchre there by the sea—
    In her tomb by the sounding sea.

back to poetry
back to favorites
home