Annabel Lee

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 sounding sea.

-Edgar Alan Poe

Tired of Holding on to Nothing

They started off as
Two inseparable soulmates.
When one whispered in his heart,
The other listened and felt.
When one hurt himself,
The other bore the pain.
When one was lost,
The other was there to find him.

And then...
Between them, came,
A wall of understanding.
As peculiar as it may seem,
Understanding tore them apart.
This huge wall, the other climbed,
To seek and find him,
And return with him.
This huge wall,
Grew smoother and slipperier,
Making it hard for her,
To reach the top.
Many a times she fell,
Many a times she bruised herself,
Many a times, even when things seemed hopeless,
She never gave up.
While climbing this
Slippery, steep Everest,
She saw him.
She saw him busy,
She saw him not care,
She saw him laugh away...
Did he mirth at her foolishness?
Or was he just too happy to care?
She couldn't understand this,
Did he not care anymore?
Was he too stuck to his comfortable side,
Of this huge, formidable wall,
To look out for her?
She called out to him,
She called out for him,
He heard, never listened,
To her share of miseries.
Yet she called again,
He looked but didn't see,
The hardships she faced.
She tried once more,
He turned but didn't notice,
How she gave herself away.

Then arose out of the wall,
Thorns, of all broken promises,
Forgotten verses, abused dreams.
Piercing her straight through her heart,
Leaving it bleeding profusely.

She let go of the footholds,
To fall on the hard ground,
Never to climb the wall again,
Never to fall in love again.
She got up,
Brushed the dust off as before,
But didn't look back the wall anymore.
Instead, she began carving her own path,
On her side of the wall,
To lead her life the way she wanted to,
Where people would conquer mountains for her,
Where others would,
Give up being understood,
To understand her.
Where love had only one definition:
Her happiness.

-Me