La
Belle Dame sans Merci
by John Keats
"O
what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge
has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
"O
what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's
granary is full,
And the harvest's done.
"I
see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy
cheek a fading rose
Fast withereth too."
"I
met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful - a faery's child,
Her hair
was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
"I
made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd
at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
"I
set her on my pacing steed
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong
would she bend, and sing
A faery's song.
"She
found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure
in language strange she said -
'I love thee true.'
"She
took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore;
And there
I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
"And
there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dream'd - Ah! woe betide!
The latest
dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill's side.
"I
saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried-'LaBelle
Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!'
"I
saw their starv'd lips in the gloom,
With horried warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke
and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.
"And
this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the
sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing."
John
Keats
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