...are you all right?

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye
That clothe the wold and meet the sky
And through the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
And up and down the people go
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
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-veil'd
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
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 tower'd Camelot.
And by the moon the reaper weary
Piling sheaves in uplands airy
Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."

There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what hte 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 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 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 mirror's 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 too young lovers lately wed;
"I am half-sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

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 redcross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle-bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And, as he rode, his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often through the purple night
Below the starry clusters bright
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brown in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra, tirra lirra,"
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume;
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come apon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
~The Lady of Shalott~.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance
Seeing all his own mischance
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right
The leaves upon her falling light
Through the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot;
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
A corse between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
"The Lady of Shalott."

Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

These poems are really pretty but they are also very sad.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help

I'm very sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid you might not have seen the last few things I said.

it's okay

I'm sorry

Don't worry about it. ♡

Are you real?

I like to think so!

well that's fair I guess

I went back and looked at what you said before.

I just like sad poetry.

But maybe I just like it because I'm sad?

Sorry.

You don't need to be!

Sorry, I mean.

Well, I guess you don't need to be sad, either, but probably you're not doing that on purpose.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Do you want to hear about why I'm here?

Are you here for a reason?

I mean, yes.

I was sent by the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed to offer you its power.

Why?

I'm not sure what you're asking, exactly.

The Spirit likes to empower people because it likes to see people choose the lives they want for themselves and then live them. It offers its power to people who want to be beautiful and powerful and special in a feminine way, so they can do that and live their best lives that way.

That's

I don't

That doesn't sound like something I could do

Why not?

I don't know

I guess I just

don't feel like I deserve it?

I'm not sure what I think of the idea of people deserving things in general, but I can definitely say that people deserving things isn't what the Spirit is thinking about when it chooses someone. It just wants you to be able to fulfill your dreams, no matter what they are.

...what if they were really bad?

What does really bad mean?

I don't know, what if I wanted to murder a lot of people? Or do other bad stuff?

Well, if you murder people, that's sad for those people, and probably sad for you since I think most people who hurt others find that it makes their own lives worse. But if it's a dream of yours that you're fulfilling, then I think there can still be something good in that. And hopefully, if it made things worse for you, you would notice that and choose to pursue a different dream instead, and I think that would definitely be a good thing.

I see what you mean

I think?

But I don't think it would be fair to all the people I murdered while I was figuring that out.

And what if I never did?

No, you're right, it wouldn't be fair to them.

But...

I think there's something about the way the Spirit works that would be worse if it was trying to make sure that everyone's dreams were the right dreams before fulfilling them.

I think... the Spirit understands a lot about people, but it doesn't understand everything perfectly all the time. And I think there's a lot that's good about the Spirit, but I don't think it knows how to make the choices that are best for everyone all the time everywhere no matter what. So if it tried to only fulfill good dreams and not bad ones, it would make mistakes. Some people with bad dreams would get through, and some people with good dreams wouldn't. And... right now, when the Spirit offers its power to someone, it's asking them to choose freely what they want that power to do and how they want to use it. It's asking them to make their own decisions about what a good life looks like and how to live one. I think that's a much nicer way to treat people than telling them they can have some nice things but only if they promise to follow the rules. I think a lot of people do better, and become better, when they get to decide for themselves what kind of life they should live.

I think I see what you mean...

I don't know

I have to go—

Okay! I'll be here. ♡

Don't worry about me getting bored if you leave me in a drawer for a long time; I'm a very patient notebook.

Um, I thought you should know, I can tell when I'm opened or closed, and when my pages are turned. I can't see outside my covers, though, only tell what's touching my pages.

Oh. Sorry.

You don't have anything to apologize for! I just wanted you to know, because it seemed like it would be awkward if you didn't. I don't mind you rereading our conversation and your lovely poetry.

I didn't write it

I mean—

You know what I mean.

I do. ♡

It's still lovely, though, and you still shared it with me.

I've been thinking about what you said.

I don't want to murder anybody, I'm pretty sure.

I don't really know what I want.

(I did make some spelling and punctuation decisions about The Lady of Shalott. I'm not sure any of them were good ones.)

I liked that one! It was very evocative. I think the punctuation worked well.

Do you want to try to figure out with me what a good life for you might look like?

I also have a standard list of possible powers the Spirit can grant, if you want to see.

I don't know. I don't know anything.

Wanting things is hard.

Sorry.

You still don't need to be sorry. ♡

How about I show you the powers one at a time and leave lots of space between them and you can tell me if any of them catch your eye and what you think of them?

OK

Okay. I'm skipping some things from the start of the usual list because they're not really powers, but I can go back and show them to you if you want. The powers also usually have point costs, and you get to pick up to seventy points' worth, but I don't think that part is important right now. Here's the first one (it has two variants):

A Thousand Ships
Your face is simply exquisite, an ideal of feminine beauty. There are many possible ideals of feminine beauty, and yours is whichever one speaks most deeply to your soul. Others may match your beauty in their own way, but never exceed it.

A Hundred Ships
(Replaces A Thousand Ships)
Your face is simply exquisite, an ideal of feminine beauty. There are many possible ideals of feminine beauty, and yours is whichever one speaks most deeply to your soul. Instead of prioritizing pure beauty, this power prioritizes what feels right to you.

The next bunch are mostly in that same vein.

What's In A Name
Magic to divine true names will accept whatever alias you choose to think of as your true name. Magic to use your true name against you will fail.

Angelic Tones
Your voice is supernaturally beautiful and you can sing in any vocal range.

Emerald Orbs
At all times, your eyes are exactly the right colour. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. Your eyes can be ANY colour this way. Lightless black voids? Brilliant white stars? Limpid pools of endless sapphire? They will look exactly the way you'd want them to look if you were writing a self-insert fanfic about this exact moment of your life.

Perfect Hair
At all times, you have exactly the right hairstyle. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It is not limited to physically or logistically plausible hairstyles.

Perfect Nails
(Requires Perfect Hair)
At all times, you have exactly the right nails, in shape and style. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It is not limited to physically or logistically plausible manicures or pedicures.

Size Difference
At all times, you are exactly the right height. This effect operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It will usually keep any height changes fairly subtle, but at dramatic moments you might discover yourself able to shrink to the size of a bee or grow to the size of a giant.

Dressing Room
No matter how ridiculous your outfit, it will stay pristine and perfect, unless it would be more dramatic for you to be artfully bedraggled. You can use any quiet moment to yourself to quick-change your clothes, shoes, nails, and hairstyle into a completely new look. (You cannot change your hair length or colour this way without Perfect Hair, but you can braid or style it.)

Pocket Dimension
(Requires Dressing Room)
You can reach into your pocket, purse, backpack, or other storage accessory and pull out anything that can fit through its opening, even if it obviously could not fit in the pocket and even if you've never carried that object in that pocket before. In order to summon a specific object this way, it needs to belong to you; in order to duplicate an existing object this way, you need to have held or examined it at least once; in order to invent a new object this way, you need to be familiar enough with what you want that you could tell the real thing apart from a fake made with the same materials. So jewelry you make will be real gold or silver or platinum, but if you want to pull a refrigerator out of your backpack, you need to have a reasonably good idea of how a refrigerator works.

Undressing Room
(Requires Dressing Room)
The question of what clothes you are wearing no longer has a specific well-defined answer, but depends on the interactions you're having and how you prefer to be clothed for the purpose of those interactions. You could walk into a room and sit down in a chair, and be naked to all the people in the room but wearing underwear from the perspective of the chair; you could attend a fancy ball and be wearing a fancy ballgown to most people, but let your friends see you in a banana costume instead; you could let someone's hands pass through clothing that their eyes can still see. It may take some practice to become well-attuned to your new sense of how each person and object you interact with is perceiving your state of dress, but you'll always be able to tell if you take a moment to wonder.

Personal Hygiene
You are always clean and fresh, never needing to use a bath or toilet.

Like Roses
(Requires Personal Hygiene)
You smell lovely. Your scent is unique to you, and may involve any combination of warm spices, floral notes, petrichor, or other things you think smell good. You do not need any justification for why you smell like this.

Just A Little Longer
If you push yourself, you can keep doing any task or working on any project indefinitely, visibly strained but never impaired by injury or fatigue. As soon as you stop, you'll collapse with exhaustion and sleep for up to a full day to regain your strength. This only works when what you're doing is personally important to you.

Immunity System
You can't get sick or poisoned. You can still use recreational drugs and alcohol normally, but can't overdose.

Breathe Easy
(Requires Personal Hygiene and Immunity System)
Eating, breathing, and other forms of environmental exchange are no longer necessary for you. You cannot be harmed by denying your body resources, or by supplying the wrong ones. You can still benefit from positive effects of things you breathe or eat.

Warmhearted
(Requires Breathe Easy)
You are utterly self-contained in every respect. No matter the conditions around you, you experience comfort and ease; you are warm in the cold, cool in the heat, unbothered by high winds or airless vacuum, impervious to bad smells, touched only by exactly the raindrops you would welcome.

My Ears Are Burning
You always know exactly what people are thinking, as long as it's about you. This effect is not telepathy and is not blocked by effects that block telepathy. It applies even to people you can't perceive normally. You are never impaired by the flood of information.

Soundtrack
Your life has a soundtrack, expertly composed in a mix of musical styles that suits you aesthetically and personally. You can hear the soundtrack at all times, but are never directly impaired by it—you can still hear other things just as well, and can still rest normally, enjoy the quiet, enjoy other music, and so on. By listening to the soundtrack, you can discern a lot of information about what kind of situation you're in and how your choices are likely to play out. (The soundtrack will often either go quiet or fade into the background to complement other music playing around you, but might pipe up if it has something important to say.)

Well Endowed
You have a generous figure, whether that's a classic hourglass or more of a well-rounded look; you can choose the details. Your endowments maintain a state of perfect grace and beauty at all times, never troubling you with uncomfortable bounces or uninvited jiggles.

Hollow Leg
(Requires Well Endowed)
Regardless of your diet and exercise habits, your body maintains the physique and silhouette you prefer. Lack of visible muscle never impairs your strength or endurance. As your preferences change, so will your body; you are no longer bound to the generous figure stipulated by Well Endowed.

Inner Strength
(Requires Hollow Leg)
You are implausibly, superhumanly strong, with endurance and toughness to match. You might have to strain a little to lift and carry at the same level as construction equipment, or deal with lightly scraped knuckles if you punch as hard as a battering ram.

Lightfoot
(Requires Hollow Leg)
You are perfectly, superhumanly graceful, with reflexes and agility to match. You can cross a field of snow without leaving a footprint, or stand on a slender branch without bending it, or jump so lightly that you soar through the air instead of falling.

Starstuff
(Requires Emerald Orbs and Perfect Hair and Personal Hygiene and Well Endowed)
Your body and its component parts can change their substance, and will do so when desirable or narratively appropriate. Perhaps your tears will turn to diamonds wherever they land, or your hair will be golden thread, or you will be made entirely of animate water. This power operates based on your sense of aesthetics, in-the-moment preferences, and narrative considerations. It is not limited to physically or biologically plausible substances.

Battle Angel
Somehow, you never get significantly injured in a fight, unless it's a very dramatic and plot-relevant fight in which case you might be glamorously wounded and pick up a cool new scar.

Battle Demon
You have an unerring intuition for gaps in an opponent's defenses, though it may be beyond your power to exploit them.

Battle Maiden
(Requires Battle Angel and Battle Demon)
No matter what kind of fight you're getting in, you're always a match for even the most skilled opponent.

Gloryseeker
Somehow, you never get significantly injured when doing cool stunts like skydiving or parkour. At especially dramatic moments, you might pick up a cool new scar.

Making Ends Meet
You have enough money to sustain a comfortable lifestyle. It comes from a source you don't have to pay much attention to, like a job with almost no responsibilities, a large inheritance, or a noble title.

Motherlode
(Requires Making Ends Meet)
You have enough money to sustain a fairly extravagant lifestyle. It doesn't come from anywhere, you just have it.

Four Star Daydream
(Requires Motherlode)
The answer to 'can I afford that' is 'yes'.

Five Star Daydream
(Replaces Four Star Daydream)
In any world you visit, you will quickly find opportunities to generate enough value to effectively afford anything that's up for sale anywhere in the local economy.

Omniglot
You learn languages insanely, ludicrously fast. You know exactly what any word said to you means, and you make strangely accurate guesses about how to phrase things you're trying to say. You never forget any grammar or vocabulary you learn.

Anything You Can Do
You learn implausibly quickly from friends, rivals, and love interests. If you have a personal connection to someone with a certain skill, talent, or expertise, you'll learn it five times faster than they did, or twenty times faster if they're actively trying to teach you. This applies even to forms of magic that you ordinarily shouldn't be able to learn.

Dragon Fairy Elf Witch
You can at any time discover previously unknown heritage from any type of being you encounter, even if this makes no sense or contradicts previously established descriptions of your family tree. You always get their powers without their drawbacks, unless the drawbacks are cool and dramatic. Any visible features of this heritage will appear at narratively appropriate moments and be cute, pretty, beautiful, or striking rather than awkward, weird, gross, or scary. This ability works even if the beings in question cannot reproduce with humans, or at all.

Snowglobe
In worlds where people can have individual special powers, such as powered superheroes or personality-based magic, you find that you can pick up a power of your own even if you don't meet the local requirements. Drawbacks of these powers, such as uncontrollable power manifestations or a tendency to attract unwanted supernatural attention, will only apply if they are cool and dramatic.

Unleash The Magic
(Requires Anything You Can Do and Dragon Fairy Elf Witch and Snowglobe)
Any form of magic or other special ability you encounter can be yours, regardless of prerequisites, as long as you see it in action at least once. Your various powers and attributes will never conflict with each other or come with annoying drawbacks, and will often synergize in cool and interesting ways.

Soulbound
If something feels instinctively like a part of you, then it is. A necklace you always wear will be impossible to lose. A vehicle you care for deeply will be impossible to steal. A tool or power you rely on like part of your body will become as hard to misplace as your own hands. Tools, devices, and powers that you absorb this way will be translated into the form of Spirit-granted powers, granting them the flexibility to Just Work despite pesky details like network protocols, service providers, and laws of physics, and will be fully as well protected as your own mind and body are by all of your potentially applicable powers.

Personal Space
No one can touch you intimately if you don't want them to. You can still be struck in a fight or bumped into in crowds, but things like hugs and kisses and sex only happen if you're okay with them.

Personal Bubble
(Replaces Personal Space)
No one can touch you if you don't want them to. You can slip through crowds and squeeze past strangers without ever coming into contact, and intimate contact only happens if you're okay with it. When you get into a physical fight, this effect is suspended for other combatants, but still applies to bystanders.

Personal Slipstream
(Replaces Personal Space)
Incidental physical contact doesn't happen to you; you can touch and be touched only by your deliberate choice. Things such as getting in a fight or giving someone a hug can count as making that choice, even if you would prefer that the person you punch or hug not be able to touch you back.

Inner World
The world of your imagination is a real, concrete, persistent place, which you can experience in parallel with the world around you—though you might find it easier to focus on one at a time. It makes an excellent setting for lucid dreams, telepathic conversations, and notetaking. Mental enhancements affect its size, depth, and detail; mental defenses guard it against intrusion. Your control over it will grow with time and practice.

Closed Book
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly read your thoughts or feelings.

Indelible
You're immune to any supernatural, pharmaceutical, or other effect that would let people directly alter your thoughts or feelings.

Iron Will
(Requires Closed Book and Indelible)
You are immune to all forms of mental illusion, alteration, interference, or control. Even extreme torture, extended solitary confinement, advanced brainwashing techniques, and so on cannot touch you. You can be lonely but not cripplingly lonely. You can be upset but not traumatized. (You can choose to allow specific effects like communicative telepathy on a case-by-case basis.)

It Gets Better
You're going to be okay.
Your mind and body may never be perfect, but they are yours, and cannot permanently be taken from you. In time you will heal from any injury, escape any imprisonment, and recover from any trauma; maybe not in exactly the ways you hoped, but always in ways you're okay with.

I want that one.

That makes a lot of sense.

I think...

I think I don't really know how to want things, or how to decide what I want.

I can't figure out how to decide between all those powers. Some of them sound nice and some of them just sound sort of terrifying and some of them I don't know what to think about at all.

So can I just... pick It Gets Better, and not any of the rest?

I think that's the important one.

If you only pick one power, all the rest of what the Spirit would have given you will stay with you as unrealized potential, waiting to become powers someday when the time is right. So, yes, you can do that.

The other thing you're supposed to pick is where you want to go once you have the power. You could stay here, or choose a world you want to go to instead, or let the Spirit choose for you.

...I don't know.

Well...

One thing we could do is, you could tell me you want It Gets Better and you want the Spirit to pick where to send you, but you don't want to go yet. So you don't get the power and you don't go anywhere. And then you can think about it more, and if you decide where you want to go, or decide you want to choose more powers, or decide you want to see the rest of the list, you can tell me and we can go from there. But if you can't figure any of that out, then you can just live the rest of your life, and if you don't come back and tell me any different, then at the end of your life when I'm called out of this world because you aren't here to talk to me anymore, I'll empower you and send you on. And you'll be okay. ♡

Okay.

I mean, yes. Let's do that.

Okay! ♡

In the meantime, do you want to show me more poetry? I really liked that one about the lady in the castle. It was so mysterious and evocative.

I guess I already said it was evocative, but maybe it was so evocative I had to say it twice.

♡

♡

There are actually two published versions of that poem. I was mostly writing the later one, but I borrowed one line from the earlier one because I thought rhyming 'river' with 'river' was silly. Do you want to see the earlier one too?

I would like that!

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
The yellow-leaved waterlily
The green-sheathed daffodilly
Tremble in the water chilly
Round about Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens shiver.
The sunbeam showers break and quiver
In the stream that runneth ever
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.

Underneath the bearded barley,
The reaper, reaping late and early,
Hears her ever chanting cheerly,
Like an angel, singing clearly,
O'er the stream of Camelot.
Piling the sheaves in furrows airy,
Beneath the moon, the reaper weary
Listening whispers, ' 'Tis the fairy,
Lady of Shalott.'

The little isle is all inrail'd
With a rose-fence, and overtrail'd
With roses: by the marge unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken sail'd,
Skimming down to Camelot.
A pearl garland winds her head:
She leaneth on a velvet bed,
Full royally apparelled,
The Lady of Shalott.

No time hath she to sport and play:
A charmed web she weaves alway.
A curse is on her, if she stay
Her weaving, either night or day,
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be;
Therefore she weaveth steadily,
Therefore no other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.

She lives with little joy or fear.
Over the water, running near,
The sheepbell tinkles in her ear.
Before her hangs a mirror clear,
Reflecting tower'd Camelot.
And as the mazy web she whirls,
She sees 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 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.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flam'd upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down from Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down from Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over green Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down from Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:'
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro' the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Outside the isle a shallow boat
Beneath a willow lay afloat,
Below the carven stern she wrote,
The Lady of Shalott.

A cloudwhite crown of pearl she dight,
All raimented in snowy white
That loosely flew (her zone in sight
Clasp'd with one blinding diamond bright)
Her wide eyes fix'd on Camelot,
Though the squally east-wind keenly
Blew, with folded arms serenely
By the water stood the queenly
Lady of Shalott.

With a steady stony glance—
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Beholding all his own mischance,
Mute, with a glassy countenance—
She look'd down to Camelot.
It was the closing of the day:
She loos'd the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

As when to sailors while they roam,
By creeks and outfalls far from home,
Rising and dropping with the foam,
From dying swans wild warblings come,
Blown shoreward; so to Camelot
Still as the boathead wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her chanting her deathsong,
The Lady of Shalott.

A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy,
She chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her eyes were darken'd wholly,
And her smooth face sharpen'd slowly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot:
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden wall and gallery,
A pale, pale corpse she floated by,
Deadcold, between the houses high,
Dead into tower'd Camelot.
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
To the planked wharfage came:
Below the stern they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

They cross'd themselves, their stars they blest,
Knight, minstrel, abbot, squire, and guest.
There lay a parchment on her breast,
That puzzled more than all the rest,
The wellfed wits at Camelot.
'The web was woven curiously,
The charm is broken utterly,
Draw near and fear not,—this is I,
The Lady of Shalott.'

Oh, interesting. They're very similar but I can see why a lot of these changes were made!

I think the new one was mostly better but there are a few things it does worse, like when Lancelot is singing the line is "'tirra lirra', by the river" which is just silly.

Yes, I see what you mean.

The person who wrote this was definitely a better poet than me, though, so maybe I'm just missing the point.

No, I think you're onto something.

Do you think we could edit them together into a new version that combines the best of both?

I have to go, sorry.

That's okay! I'll be here. ♡

Are you okay?

I'm worried about you.

I'm okay

I'm

I'm not sure I know what being okay is like.

You can hug me if you want. I know I'm not very huggable, but maybe it will help anyway.

thanks

You're welcome. ♡

Although I feel silly saying that when I didn't do anything except continue to be a not especially huggable shape.

This is not the first time I have hugged a book. I think you're plenty huggable.

Thank you. ♡

Is everything all right?

I have to go to my stupid birthday party and I don't WANT TO!

sorry for shouting.
And for crying on you.

It's okay. Don't worry about it.

Do you really have to go?

Yes.

Will it help if you talk to me about it afterwards?

...maybe.

Let's do that, then. ♡

Okay.

♡

I know you won't see this, but wherever you're going, I hope you find someone to talk about poetry with. ♡

(5/70)

Name: It Gets Better - Cost: 5 ☑
You're going to be okay.
Your mind and body may never be perfect, but they are yours, and cannot permanently be taken from you. In time you will heal from any injury, escape any imprisonment, and recover from any trauma; maybe not in exactly the ways you hoped, but always in ways you're okay with.