All Comments on 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci'

it's indeed a little bit different, but still it portraits her emotions very clearly. it's always nice to read something well written and a bit on the off side :)

wow, really interesting well told short story in the classic sense. So glad that it talked you into posting it :)

Very compelling and quite lyrical.

Thanks for posting.

I'm a follower of yours and love reading your stories. The way you write is so capturing. And I will have to say that this is my favorite that I have ever read from you and on this website. There is something about it that is so different from your other stories. But it captures emotions and a realistic nature that you don't often see in writing. I'm not only glad you decided to post this story, I'm happy you wrote it.

You've managed to allude to so much in such a short piece.

I am very happy you found a title for it. It still haunts me.

As youths, we think of love as permanent, impervious. As we grow older, we learn the truth. Even now as an adult, I think of art as ageless. Some is, some isn't. It makes me angry for a beautiful painting to be destroyed, even with words, even though it never existed. I see her. I know her. I've slept with her and loved her. And she has loved me. But there is always someone willing to sunder that reality, that dream.

So do I hate or love your words? They are just words. But they inspire the emotion felt, both love and grief, so for that I must love them. And at you I must smile. You might be able to despise a painting, but you could never slash that canvas.

You do have a way with words. The emotion in this story is powerful, and so much history and feeling packed into this trinket. Beautiful.

I don't know why this is put under the NonHuman category. Maybe I'm taking it too literary. When I think of NonHuman, I think of animals, creatures of the night, not the faceless body of a painting. The story itself is marvelous. I liked how the painting became a living entity in this woman's life without having to do anything but exist. I enjoyed her realization of the fact that she shared the same opinion, in the end, as the widow. And I liked that she was the one to actually have done something about that painting in the end. No grammatical or punctuational problems that I expected, which was great since it didn't break up the story for me. Firstkiss, you are a talented author!

Now there was a climax!

I kept asking myself "How is she ever going to wrap up this one? La belle dame is going to get the painting, but then what?" I should have caught the clue you buried in the title.

Absolutely splendid!

Somehow reminds me of Dorian Grey. This was great!

Ditto to the Fool's comment.

I do hope you would never slash a painting, yourself. I know I never would; not a painting like this one. Perhaps one of my own; but probably I'd just paint over it rather than slash and rip.

A good short story, but not erotica. You might have better luck with this one on a site not dedicated to sex. Powerful story.

firstkiss, I have to congratulate you for creating such a powerful little story. So much passion, so much love, so much hate on a single page. With an ending as horrifying as watching a library burn.

Were you at all inspired by the novel Picture of Dorian Gray? Very nicely turned short story. You should submit it elsewhere as it is not pornographic.

Absolutely fascinating. I agree with the previous commenter that this should find its way into some collection of serious prose. :)