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 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, chilling


My beautiful Annabel Lee;


So that her highborn 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 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 the sepulchre there by the sea,


In her tomb by the side of the sea.

"Some books leave us free and some books make us free."