 
La Belle Dame Sans Merci 
Ballad. 
I.
O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 
Alone and palely loitering? 
The sedge has wither’d from the lake, 
And no birds sing. 
II.
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. 
III.
I see a lily on thy brow 
With anguish moist and fever dew, 
And on thy cheeks a fading rose 
Fast withereth too. 
IV.
I met a lady in the meads, 
Full beautiful - a faery’s child, 
Her hair was long, her foot was light, 
And her eyes were wild. 
V.
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. 
VI.
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. 
VII.
She found me roots of relish sweet, 
And honey wild, and manna dew, 
And sure in language strange she said - 
«I love thee true.» 
VIII.
She took me to her elfin grot, 
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore, 
And there I shut her wild wild eyes 
With kisses four. 
IX.
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. 
X.
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!» 
XI.
I saw their starved lips in the gloam, 
With horrid warning gaped wide, 
And I awoke and found me here, 
On the cold hill’s side. 
XII.
And this is why I sojourn here, 
Alone and palely loitering, 
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake, 
And no birds sing. 
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