A lovely alteration of an old poem by Edgar Allen Poe to wrap up the pain of Maggie & Barnabas' psychological troubles now spent from the three previous chapters.
Slightly altered, for the happiness of three relationships.
Annabel Lee: Reborn
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden 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 wingéd 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 by night
Chilling my ANNABEL LEE;
So that her high-born 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, 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 our kingdom here by the sea—
We've found one another, and here she is mine,
Reborn to me now,
dare I question how?
I don't, I can not care any less
For our love is sublime
And we have all the time
To enjoy ourselves, ah, I am blessed
As the ocean waves roll
and the rocks take their toll
I turn away from them and what do I see?
Forever, my bliss
The fair woman I missed.
The Beautiful ANNABEL LEE.
Since I was using Nabokov for inspiration on this novel I went back to one of his own inspirations, fitting for a gothic story, Edgar Allen Poe. I thought over the poem and saw so many elements that touched this story too.
So in this strange way, again that number three, all these relationships might have peace.
Barnabas has his Josette in Maggie.
Perhaps a redeemed and better Humbert has a loving, willing (& older) Lolita, not necessarily Dolores Haze.
And Edgar Allen Poe may have his Annabel Lee. (Who was named the first incarnation of Lolita.)
This is not the end of the story, there is a great more to come, both in healing, passion and love.