The Lady of Whispers

This poem is a direct response to Alfred Loyd Tennysons "Lady of Shalott". Using the original rhyme scheme, this poem depicts the lady's tower years after she and Camelot have passed.
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Lady of Whispers
By Gabrielle Sawdo
Based on Alfred Loyd Tennysons “Lady of Shalott”

To find the overgrown tower, many try.

Old fields buried, sterile to eye.

Where the old beauty is nowhere nigh

And hark the solemn song mused by

The ghosts of Camelot.

A faded bog of dilly.

Long cast of waterlilly,

Remain the waters sludge and chilly;

No whisper of Shalott.


Beyond the trees that bend and shiver,

Absent tattle of life, deliver.

Floor cast in shattered silver.

A reflection can never forgive her,

Unknown to souls of Camelot.

Time creates and time devours.

Flowers wither, fragrance sours

Still, silent remain the hours

For the Lady of Shalott.


Listen close and constant, nearly.

The Reaper speaks of her so dearly.

They loved the lady so sincerely,

Slice of shining scythe swung clearly

And brought her over Camelot.

Those who venture now are leery,

The brackish swamp deemed too dreary.

A bonny body found too eerie.

Adrift, the Lady of Shalott.


The little isle all but veiled,

Thorns and bramble climbed and scaled.

Little left to be detailed

And broken stone, marks who failed:

Only those of Camelot.

If you know where to be led

A rotting boat, a name embed,

Never shall it go unsaid

The Lady of Shalott.