Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “For Annie” (Comparative Text)

 

Title: FOR ANNIE.

 

{{1850-02: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ }}

 

Line-01-001 THANK Heaven! the crisis —

Line-01-002 [[indent]] The danger is past,

Line-01-003 And the lingering illness

Line-01-004 [[indent]] Is over at last —

Line-01-005 And the fever called “Living”

Line-01-006 [[indent]] Is conquered at last.

 

Line-01-007 Sadly, I know

Line-01-008 [[indent]] I am shorn of my strength,

Line-01-009 And no muscle I move

Line-01-010 [[indent]] As I lie at full length —

Line-01-011 But no matter! — I feel

Line-01-012 [[indent]] I am better at length.

 

Line-01-013 And I rest so composedly,

Line-01-014 [[indent]] Now, in my bed,

Line-01-015 That any beholder

Line-01-016 [[indent]] Might fancy me dead —

Line-01-017 Might start at beholding me,

Line-01-018 [[indent]] Thinking me dead.

 

Line-01-019 The moaning and groaning,

Line-01-020 [[indent]] The sighing and sobbing {{1849-01: [[,]] //1850-02: , }}

Line-01-021 Are quieted now,

Line-01-022 [[indent]] With that horrible throbbing

Line-01-023 At heart: — ah {{1850-02: , }} that horrible,

Line-01-024 [[indent]] Horrible throbbing!

 

Line-01-025 The sickness — the nausea —

Line-01-026 [[indent]] The pitiless pain —

Line-01-027 Have ceased, with the fever

Line-01-028 [[indent]] That maddened my brain —

Line-01-029 With the fever called “Living”

Line-01-030 [[indent]] That burned in my brain.

 

Line-01-031 And oh! of all tortures

Line-01-032 [[indent]] That torture the worst

Line-01-033 Has abated — the terrible

Line-01-034 [[indent]] Torture of thirst

Line-01-035 For the naphthaline river

Line-01-036 [[indent]] Of Passion accurst: —

Line-01-037 I have drank of a water

Line-01-038 [[indent]] That quenches all thirst: —

 

Line-01-039 Of a water that flows,

Line-01-040 [[indent]] With a lullaby sound,

Line-01-041 From a spring but a very few

Line-01-042 [[indent]] Feet under ground —

Line-01-043 From a cavern not very far

Line-01-044 [[indent]] Down under ground.

 

Line-01-045 And ah! let it never

Line-01-046 [[indent]] Be foolishly said

Line-01-047 That my room it is gloomy

Line-01-048 [[indent]] And narrow my bed;

Line-01-049 For man never slept

Line-01-050 [[indent]] In a different bed —

Line-01-051 And, {{1849-01: to //1850-02: to }} sleep, you must slumber

Line-01-052 [[indent]] In just such a bed.

 

Line-01-053 My tantalized spirit

Line-01-054 [[indent]] Here blandly reposes,

Line-01-055 Forgetting, or never

Line-01-056 [[indent]] Regretting {{1849-01: , }} its roses —

Line-01-057 Its old agitations

 

Line-01-058 For now, while so quietly

Line-01-059 [[indent]] Lying, it fancies

Line-01-060 A holier odor

Line-01-061 [[indent]] About it, of pansies —

Line-01-062 A rosemary odor,

Line-01-063 [[indent]] Commingled with pansies —

Line-01-064 With rue and the beautiful

Line-01-065 [[indent]] Puritan pansies.

 

Line-01-066 And so it lies, happily,

Line-01-067 [[indent]] Bathing in many

Line-01-068 A dream of the truth

Line-01-069 [[indent]] And the beauty of Annie —

Line-01-070 Drowned in a bath

Line-01-071 [[indent]] Of the tresses of Annie.

 

Line-01-072 She tenderly kissed me,

Line-01-073 [[indent]] She fondly caressed,

Line-01-074 And then I fell gently

Line-01-075 [[indent]] To sleep on her breast —

Line-01-076 Deeply to sleep

Line-01-077 [[indent]] From the heaven of her breast.

 

Line-01-078 When the light was extinguished,

Line-01-079 [[indent]] She covered me warm,

Line-01-080 And she prayed to the angels

Line-01-081 [[indent]] To keep me from harm —

Line-01-082 To the queen of the angels

Line-01-083 [[indent]] To shield me from harm.

 

Line-01-084 And I lie so composedly,

Line-01-085 [[indent]] Now, in my bed,

Line-01-086 (Knowing her love)

Line-01-087 [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-088 And I rest so contentedly

Line-01-089 [[indent]] Now {{1849-01: , }} in my bed,

Line-01-090 (With her love at my breast)

Line-01-091 [[indent]] That you fancy me dead —

Line-01-092 That you shudder to look at me,

Line-01-093 [[indent]] Thinking me dead: —

 

Line-01-094 But my heart it is brighter

Line-01-095 [[indent]] Than all of the many

Line-01-096 Stars {{1849-01: of //1850-02: in }} the sky,

Line-01-097 [[indent]] For it sparkles with Annie —

Line-01-098 It glows with the light

Line-01-099 [[indent]] Of the love of my Annie —

Line-01-100 With the thought of the light

Line-01-101 [[indent]] Of the eyes of my Annie.