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 kinsmen 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 see 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 her sepulchre there by the sea—
  In her tomb by the side of the sea.

we are in debt to
the stars

each one carved
with our

initials

sighing our name
out to the

sky

we are children of
the moon

ever chasing its
craters

across an endless
sphere of

silver

It's amazing when you see it; the greatest plan of all time
Throughout all of history God's had mercy on mankind

He didn't have to do it, we all deserved to die
For in our hearts a dark rebellion always seemed to lie

From the time they first sinned  to the time He sent the flood
His plan had been and always was to wash us in the blood

He never left us hopeless though we never earned His grace
Yet due to love He sent His son and then He turned His face

Staring at this timeline shows endless moments when
He could have left us on our own, condemned by our own sin

I look at all the countless times He demonstrated love
And all I can do is sigh and cry when I see just what He's done

He took the weight of time and space and bore it on His shoulders
So you and I and all who sinned could enter Heavens boarders

Humanity in sin and shame was lost throughout the ages
Yet when He came He made us whole by paying our due wages

Consistently, overwhelmingly, and stunningly good
He has never left us on our own, and He never would

He made a way for us to join Him with His Father as His kin
His sacrifice was made so that humanity might win

His justice always standing firm, He had to pay the price
He did what no man could and bled so that we could have life

His greatness cannot be seen in all of its entirety
But I rejoice that I can stare at Him for all eternity

His goodness knows no earthly bounds, His mercies never end
His beauty astounds the minds and hearts of angels and of men

And when we gaze upon His face I can't deny its true
His unrelenting love it overwhelms me through and through

the sun always rise from the darkness,
and so are you,
my dear.

There’s a daisy for each broken dream I’ve experienced.

There’s not very many but
one is too many.

My pain burns from the depths
of my soul, I shed a tear for every wound I bare.

These river banks are a reminder
of the love we made.

Amongst the flowing water
we are the ripples we make,
every step we made was another
bough to break.

As the sunset upon our lovers
bed, a shadow slowly crept
to devour the covers.

We never had a chance,
the devil took his stance.

He played his violin with great ovation for his audience.

You decided to dance.

© 2020 By Amanda Shelton

you're leaving me here
to make memories
that I will be forced to
look back on
in sadness
when you all
leave me again
one
by
one.

The pearl that I dug out
From the heart of the ocean
Loved not me, but the dead oyster

O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.