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 wingèd 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, chilling



My beautiful 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 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 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 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 her sepulchre there by the sea—



In her tomb by the sounding sea.





