For [you], Queen. May your name be erased from the face of the earth for all of the innocents you destroyed. Where you will go, you are neither Queen nor Sovereign, but you go to your father, the devil
The Raven
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten loreβ
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
ββTis some visitor,β I muttered, βtapping at my chamber doorβ
Only this and nothing more.β
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;βvainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrowβsorrow for the lost Lenoreβ
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenoreβ
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled meβfilled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
ββTis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber doorβ
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;β
This it is and nothing more.β
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
βSir,β said I, βor Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard youββhere I opened wide the door;β
Darkness there and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, βLenore?β
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, βLenore!ββ
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
βSurely,β said I, βsurely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery exploreβ
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;β
βTis the wind and nothing more!β
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber doorβ
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber doorβ
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
βThough thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,β I said, βart sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shoreβ
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Nightβs Plutonian shore!β
Quoth the Raven βNevermore.β
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaningβlittle relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber doorβ
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as βNevermore.β