Her Name is Sorrel

V

5

“What do you think he’s saying,” she reiterated for the third time, “What theme is Poe trying to convey?”

Frowning, my eyes skimmed the heavily annotated poem once again, tired pupils dilating in contrast to the bright highlighter that illuminated the page.

“Um, I don’t know, lost love?”

“A theme is more than two words Danny,” Sorrel reminded me patiently while pushing a wasp of hair behind her ear, “Try again. What’s Poe saying?”

Groaning, I tangled my hands frustratedly into my hair and stared at the wall clock of the library: 6:43. It’s been two and a half hours of non-stop English tutoring and frankly, I wanted to go home, strip to my boxers, and watch an episode of Dance Moms. 

“Focus, Daniel.”

“I really don’t know-”

“Read it again-”

“For Christ’s sake!” I gasped exasperatedly, “The god damn poet married his second or third cousin who was like, 20 years younger than him! I don’t fucking know what the theme is! Incest? Perverts? I don’t know!”

Sorrel pursed her thin lips and took the poem from my hand, “Could you be any more loud? This is a library.”

“Squirrel, what the hell are you doin-”

“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.”

My blood went cold as I listened, mesmerized by the fluidity of her speech. 

“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.”

God, she was so perfect. The way her lips shaped the letters and words flew swiftly off her tongue. Unintentionally, I found myself tuning out her words, studying her soft lips instead. 

“But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—