La Belle Dame sans Merci av 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 fairy’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 fairy’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 lulled 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 starv’d lips in the gloam
With horrid warning gaped 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.
*
En fråga, kära läsare, vet någon av er om det finns någon bra Keats-översättning till svenska (överhuvudtaget, men i synnerhet den här dikten)?
Jo, jag har läst någon sådan någon gång. I efterordet till Sven Christer Swahns tolkningar Den okände Keats (sonetterna) har han översatt hela den här dikten, med rim och allt.
Tack för tips! Jag inser ständigt mina omfattande kunskapsluckor när det kommer till brittisk romantik – alla dessa dikter som finns kvar att upptäcka. Precis som med mina kära fransmän är det alltid roligt att ställa de engelska originalet mot svenska översättningar.