La Belle Dame Sans Merci

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.

The poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats is rather dark and tragic in its entirety, but this one stanza has always painted an enchanting picture in my head. It's full of the unexpected; a delightful surprise that hints of magic.

I spent many hours of my childhood (probably from the time I was eight up through my mid teens) roaming the untamed acres of woods behind our house. Those same years were full of reading fairy stories, romantic pre-raphaelite poetry, and the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Was it any wonder that I kept my eyes wide open every time I ventured into the woods?

Although I had my fair share of a-lone-knight-riding-up-on-a-white-horse fantasies (how can you read Arthurian Legends and come out unscathed?) the most appealing daydreams centered around meeting a "faery child" in the forest. Every unexpected glimmer of light, every whisper of the leaves seemed to be a clue; a glimpse of something more, just waiting to be discovered.

There were a few episodes that seemed heartbreakingly close to a brush with one of those ethereal beings. Some of them I twisted and turned so much in my own mind that they became eerily realistic, and others made eye-popping tales to tell my unsuspecting sisters and cousin. (The latter was seriously traumatized by a story involving an evil witch and the spell that cast around one of our favorite play spots. Not such a brilliant idea. :P)

In the end, I must admit that I never really met that faery child (and seeing how the poem turns out, I should perhaps be thankful). Nor was I taken from the "dull" life of  mortals to live among the fairies, as I once wished. On the contrary, I've even come to the conclusion that being human is quite a nice thing, really. ;)

But I still treasure a solitary walk in the woods. And I always keep my eyes open...

-Amanda :)

Poem: La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Image: Dustjacket Attic