LA BELLE DAME DE FUREUR ET DE LIESSE

(after Keats)

O what can ail thee, Knight-of-Flowers,

Alone and dreamy wandering?

The Moon has blossomed on the lake,

And night-birds sing.

O what can ail thee, Knight-of-Flowers,

So carefree and so nonchalant?

The squirrel’s granary is full,

And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,

With wild surmise and evening-dew,

And on thy cheeks a blushing rose

Warm gloweth too.

I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful—a Faery Queen,

Her sword was long, her touch was light,

And her eyes were green.

I made a wreath for on her head,

And bracelets too, and I did kneel;

She looked at me and raised her sword,

My oath to seal.

She set me on her pacing steed,

And on we travelled all day long,

She showed me all the Land twas hers

And made sweet song.

She found me roots of mandrake dark,

And aconite, and slips of yew,

And in words I seemed to know said—

‘Be thou true’.

She took me to her Hollow Hill,

And there she wove a holy spell,

And there I lay me down to rest

And drink from Holy Well.

And there she lullèd me asleep,

And there I dreamed—Ah! World to Come!—

The greatest dream I ever dreamt

A beating drum.

I saw pale ladies and pale knights,

The flower of youth, the bloom of age;

They cried—‘Now you have seen the sight

Of Love and Rage’

I saw their shining host go by,

With music strange and lances raised,

And I awoke and found me here,

And in my heart a fire that blazed.

And this is why I travel now,

Ever onwards on my quest,

The way is long, but in my hand

I hold what's best.