Mary Kathrine McKaig
(Annabel Lee)

by Edger Allen Poe

IT was many and many a year ago In this kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Mary;
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 Mary,
With a love that the winged seraphs in heaven Coveted her and me.
And that was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Mary,
So that her high-born kinsmen came And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher 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 a wind blew out of a cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Mary.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those that 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 Mary Kathrine. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Mary,
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Mary. And so, all the night tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea-- In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe