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La belle dame sans merci

Language: English

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
   So lone 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 faery'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 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 lull'd 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 starved lips in the gloom,
   With horrid warning gaping 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.
First published in Indicator, May 1820

Input by Ted Perry

Authorship

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Set in French, a translation of Jean Neymarck GER [text unavailable]
    * by Jean Neymarck , "La belle dame sans merci", published 1917. [cantata for tenor, SATB chorus, and orchestra], also set in English

Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):
    * GER German (Bertram Kottmann)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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