La Belle Dame sans Merci (revised, unsourced)




 * 1

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


 * 2

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


 * 3

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


 * 4

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.


 * 5

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.


 * 6

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.


 * 7

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


 * 8

She took me to her elfin grot, And there she gaz’d and sighed deep, And there I shut her wild sad eyes&mdash; So kiss’d to sleep.


 * 9

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.


 * 10

I saw pale kings, and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; Who cry’d&mdash;”Le belle Dame sans mercy Hath thee in thrall!”


 * 11

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 side.


 * 12

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