"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
"This piece is an illustration of the John Keats poem: La Belle Dame Sans Merci John Keats 1819 O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering? The sedge has wither¹d from the lake, and no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms so haggard and so woe-begone? The squirrel¹s granary is full, and the harvest¹s 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 faery¹s 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 look¹d 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 faery¹s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet, and honey wild, and manna dew, and sure in language strange she said‹³I love thee true.²
She took me to her elfin grot, and there she wept, and sigh¹d fill sore, and there I shut her wild wild eyes with kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep, and there I dream¹d‹Ah! woe betide! The latest Adream I ever dream¹d on the cold hill¹s side.
I saw pale kings and princes too, pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried‹³La Belle Dame sans Merci hath thee in thrall!²
I saw their starved lips in the gloam, with horrid warning gaped wide, and I awoke and found me here on the cold hill¹s side.
And this is why I sojourn here, alone and palely loitering, though the sedge is wither¹d from the lake and no birds sing.
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