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 high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sépulchre

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 sounding sea.

B

TO MY MOTHER.

ECAUSE I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,

Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"

Therefore by that dear name I long have called you -
You who are more than mother unto me,

And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you,
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother my own mother, who died early,

Was but the mother of myself; but you

Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew By that infinity with which my wife

Was dearer to my soul than its own soul-life.

THE HAUNTED PALACE.

N the greenest of our valleys.
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace

Radiant palace-reared its head. In the monarch Thought's dominion It stood there!

Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

A wingèd odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,

Through two luminous windows, saw Spirits moving musically,

To a lute's well-tunèd law,
Round about a throne where, sitting

(Porphyrogene!)

In state his glory well befitting,

The ruler of the realm was seen.

5

And all with pearl and ruby glowing

Was the fair palace door,

Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing

And sparkling evermore,

A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty

Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty,

The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn ! for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him desolate !)
And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody,

While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever

And laugh - but smile no more.

THE CONQUEROR WORM.

O! 't is a gala night

Within the lonesome latter years. An angel throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre, to see

A play of hopes and fears,

While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly —

Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure

It shall not be forgot!

With its Phantom chased for evermore, By a crowd that seize it not,

Through a circle that ever returneth in To the self-same spot,

And much of Madness, and more of Sin, And Horror the soul of the plot.