La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
1820
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.

0 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 1ily on thy brow
  With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
    Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the meads,
  Full beautiful, a fairy'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 fairy'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 lulled 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--"La belle dame sans merci
    Hath thee in thrall!"

I saw their starv'd lips in the gloom
  With horrid warning gaped 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.