Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/849

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LORD TENNYSON
Part IIThere she weaves by night and dayA magic web with colours gay.She has heard a whisper say,A curse is on her if she stayTo look down to Camelot.She knows not what the curse may be,And so she weaveth steadily,And little other care hath she,The Lady of Shalott.
And moving thro' a mirror clearThat hangs before her all the year,Shadows of the world appear.There she sees the highway nearWinding down to Camelot:There the river eddy whirls,And there the surly village-churls,And the red cloaks of market girls,Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,An abbot on an ambling pad,Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,Goes by to tower'd Camelot;And sometimes thro' the mirror blueThe knights come riding two and two:She hath no loyal knight and true,The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delightsTo weave the mirror's magic sights,

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