Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/768

 '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.

'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 lullèd 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; Who cried—"La belle Dame sans Merci     Hath thee in thrall!"

'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 Alone and palely loitering, Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake, And no birds sing.'