La Belle Dame Sans Merci, by JOHN KEATS...


"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 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 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:

They 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."

..THIS is indeed one of my favourite poems..."the beautiful lady without pity.."...i read it while in school and since then could not get over it..there is a haunting rythm to it and would leave a man in awe of beauty....but i have often wonderd why is beauty percieved thus...somewhere synonimous with cruelty...like the damsel here who knew about her alluring powers and used it to the best of her abilities to satisfy her temporal passions and leaving the men with woes personified...but somewhere it also talks about men..who also get lured so easily..just by the attracitive looks and sweet words of a damsel..and not thinking about consequences...beauty is indeed skin deep if we go by this piece...here too love is lived in terms of deep passion where the physical intimacy transcends all...but feelings and emotions are but relative interwined with personal experiences..the poem does to an extent talks about Keats own experience with women or a particular women because things cannot be generalised thus...
and then the aftermath..the thing is a passe but the knight holds on to it..or rather feels trapped as if in a web..and not able to release himself..not in body but in mind....the body moves on but in mind it lingers...the incident passes but the traces remain..the images remain and haunt time and again...