La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad E-book
Author: John Keats
Genre: Literature, Poetry
1819
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: A BALLAD
by John Keats
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: A BALLAD
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I.
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O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
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II.
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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.
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III.
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I see a lilly on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
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IV.
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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.
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V.
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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.
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VI.
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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.
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VII.
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She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said-
"I love thee true."
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VIII.
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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.
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IX.
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And there she lulled me asleep
And there I dream'd- Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.
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X.
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I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried- "La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!"
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XI.
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I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.
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XII.
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And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
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THE END
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