John Keats (1795–1821)

La Belle Dame sans Merci 1819

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 5

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, 10

And on thy cheeks 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, 15

And her eyes were wild.

I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;° belt

She looked at me as she did love,

And made sweet moan. 20

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, 25

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 sighed full sore, 30

And there I shut her wild wild eyes

With kisses four.

And there she lullèd me asleep,

And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!

The latest° dream I ever dreamed last 35

On the cold hill 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!” 40

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,

With horrid warning gapèd wide,

And I awoke and found me here,

On the cold hill’s side.

And this is why I sojourn here, 45

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge has withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.