Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk{3} and shiver Through the wave that runs forever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot; Four gray walls, and four gray towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott. By the margin, willow-veiled, Slide the heavy barges, trailed{4} By slow horses; and unhailed The shallop flitteth silken-sailed, Skimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand? Or is she known in all the land, The lady of Shalott? Only reapers, reaping early In among the bearded barley, Hear a song that echoes cheerly From the river winding clearly, Down to towered Camelot: And by the moon the reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers, "'Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott." PART II. There she weaves by night and day A magic web{5} with colors gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To 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 through a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year, Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near Winding 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 abbott on an ambling pad,{6} Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad Or long-haired page in crimson clad, Goes by to towered Camelot; And sometimes through 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 mirrored magic sights, For often through the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights, And music, went to Camelot; Or, when the moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed. "I am half-sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.{7} PART III. A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves, The sun came dazzling through the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross{8} knight forever kneeled To a lady in his shield That sparkled on the yellow field, Beside remote Shalott.