"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee
(1853-1928)
 
 
 
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
John Keats
(1795-1821)

    Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight, 
    Alone and palely loitering; 
    The sedge is wither'd from the lake, 
    And no birds sing. 
     

    II 
    Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight, 
    So haggard and so woe-begone? 
    The squirrel's granary is full, 
    And the harvest's done. 
     

    III 
    I see a lilly on thy brow, 
    With anguish moist and fever dew; 
    And on thy cheek a fading rose 
    Fast withereth too. 
     

    IV 
    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 set her on my pacing steed, 
    And nothing else saw all day long; 
    For sideways would she lean, and sing 
    A faery's song. 
     

    VI 
    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. 
     

    VII 
    She found me roots of relish sweet, 
    And honey wild, and manna dew; 
    And sure in language strange she said, 
    I love thee true. 
     

    VIII 
    She took me to her elfin grot, 
    And there she gaz'd and sighed deep, 
    And there I shut her wild sad eyes - 
    So kiss'd to sleep. 
     

    IX 
    And there we slumber'd on the moss, 
    And there I dream'd, ah woe betide, 
    The latest dream I ever dream'd 
    On the cold hill side. 
     


    I saw pale kings, and princes too, 
    Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; 
    Who cry'd - 'La Belle Dame sans merci 
    Hath thee in thrall!' 
     

    XI 
    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 side. 
     

    XII 
    And this is why I sojourn here 
    Alone and palely loitering, 
    Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake, 
    And no birds sing. 

 

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