Happy Birthday

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. 

She was a child and I 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 by night

Chilling my Annabel Lee;

So that her high-born 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, 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 see 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 side of the sea.

 

                                               ~~ Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee was written in 1849, and is believed to have been written for his wife Virginia.  It was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.