For the Moon Never Beams

Monday, November 1, 2010

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I promised to post my favorite poem by Edgar Allan Poe yesterday, but Halloween stood in my way and absolutely refused to let me near a computer.  (Please, no "late" jokes.)  Today, however, is All Saints' Day, and the Day of the Dead in Mexico, which means this poem is still appropriate.  So, in honor of my late Catholic grandmother (yeah, okay, I couldn't help it - luckily she had a good sense of humor) who, upon her divorce, renamed herself after her favorite Catholic saint, and who first shared this bit of Poe's soul with me, I now share it with all of you. 

Read this poem aloud, if possible.  If you read slowly and listen closely, you can almost feel the chill of sea spray and hear the sound of waves crashing in the distance.


ANNABEL LEE
by Edgar Allan Poe
 
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 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.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

<3 <3 <3 oh this one takes me way, way, way back! thank you :)

Unknown said...

You simply HAVE to love Poe. You just do. End of story.