It was many and many a years ago in a kingdom by the sea..

Efter att ha påbörjat läsningen av Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita känner jag mig manad att publicera en av mina favoritdikter här på bloggen, Edgar Allan Poe´s sista kompletta dikt Annabel Lee. Den skrevs 1849 och behandlar ett av hans favoritteman: en vacker kvinnas, eller i det här fallet flickas, död.

Den handlar om hur diktens berättare blir handlöst förälskad i en ung vacker flicka. Flickan dör snart men deras kärlek är så stark att den når bortom döden. Efter hennes död övergår hans kärlek i en slags besatthet där han snarast dyrkar henne. Varje natt drömmer han om sin Annabel Lee, precis som Humbert drömmer om sin Lolita. Det är en idealisk och ouppnåelig kärlek/besatthet som beskrivs i dikten så jag förstår mycket väl varför huvudkaraktären Humbert Humbert vid flera tillfällen hänsyftar till denna dikt.

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 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 the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love 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 sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Stina