La Belle Dame sans Merci (original, unsourced)

by John Keats

For other versions of this work, see La Belle Dame sans Merci.

Illustration by W. J. Neatby

O what can ail thee, knight at arms,
     Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
     And no birds sing.

O 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 lily 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 gloam
     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.