from
Poetry and Music 8,
released February 10, 2017
The Lady of Shalott (1832)
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Part II
G Am D Em
No time hath she to sport and play:
Em Am G Bm
A charmed web she weaves alway.
C G Am Em
A curse is on her, if she stay
Am G F Em
Her weaving, either night or day,
Am F Em
To look down to Camelot.
Am G
She knows not what the curse may be;
Am G
Therefore she weaveth steadily,
C G Am Em
Therefore no other care hath she,
Am F Em
The Lady of Shalott.
F Am
She lives with little joy or fear.
F C Dm Am
Over the water, running near,
F C Dm E7
The sheepbell tinkles in her ear.
Am G F Am
Before her hangs a mirror clear,
Dm E7
Reflecting tower'd Camelot.
F C Dm Am
And as the mazy web she whirls,
F C Dm E7
She sees the surly village churls,
Am G F Am
And the red cloaks of market girls
Dm E7
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 blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, came from Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead
Came two young lovers lately wed;
'I am half sick of shadows,' said
The Lady of Shalott.