Prompt 25 A Window Story

I have used 13 lines, a half-line, and a phrase lines from Tennyson to rewrite a story that I felt should have been, long ago. My words are the frame and Tennyson's lines are what you see when you look out through that window.

Part 1

The mirror cracked but the lady of Shalott

Did not die, she rose anon

She walked to the window and leaned out

Passing by was the bold Sir Lancelot

Part 2

"She made three paces thro' the room

....

She saw the helmet and the plume,

She look'd down to Camelot"

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;

From underneath his helmet flow'd

His coal-black curls as on he rode,

.... down from Camelot."

....

She saw him from her window there

"'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:'

Sang Sir Lancelot."

"...Lancelot mused a little space

He said, "she has a lovely face.

'God in His mercy' has 'lent her grace'

The Lady of Shalott"

Part 3

She waved at him as he went by

In her hand, a wisp of lace

Sir Lancelot slowed down his steed's pace

The extent of her interest to trace

Her body leaned out from the arch

He could see her to the waist

Her cheek was pink, her blush no waste

Upon the air it fell, so chaste

'What' chivalrous 'heart could' her 'despise'?

He blew her a kiss, that softly fell

She felt, upon her bosom's cleft

"A sight to dream of, not to tell"

"I wish I was that window, fair

Maiden of this town," he cried

"I would have thee ever led

To lean on it and thus be wed

To a picture, fair as a dream

Ever, thy black hair fluttering."

She who had just escaped her dread weaving

Felt alarmed, was there no escaping

Up the stairs came Sir Lancelot

Behind her, as she looked down

From her sight, he had gone

His arms embraced the maid lovelorn

Forlorn for all these many years

Weaving her web, watching in the mirror her tears

His plume tickled her neck and removed her fears

She turned back from the window's frames.

Part 4

He gave her wings, she learned to fly

Far into the distant sky, through the window of delight

Away from the mirror, and bold Sir Lancelot
Away from the town of Camelot

The Lady of Shalott.



(References also to Gray and Coleridge.)