And lo the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and follow It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And a good south-wind sprung up The Albatross did follow, eth the ship as it And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hollo! returned north ward through fog and floating ice. Day after day, day after day, Water, water, everywhere, The very deep did rot: O Christ! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, smoke white, His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good-luck. But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves ac Why look'st thou so?"-With my I shot the ALBATROSS. PART II. About, about, in reel and rout And some in dreams assured were And the Albatross begins to be avenged. A spirit had followed them: one of the invisible in habitants of this planet,-neither departed souls nor angels; con THE Sun now rose upon the right: cerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Still hid in mist, and on the left Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more. And the good south-wind still blew And every tongue, through utter Then all averr'd, I had kill'd the bird complices in the That brought the fog and mist. "T was right, said they, such birds to slay crime. The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the That bring the fog and mist. Each throat At first it seem'd a little speck, The fair breeze blew, the white foam And then it seem'd a mist; flew, Pacific Ocean and The furrow follow'd free; sails northward, We were the first that ever burst even till it reach Into that silent sea. es the Line. The ship hath been suddenly beca.med. It moved and moved, and took at last A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt As if it dodged a water-sprite, down, "T was sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody Sun, at noon, It plunged and tack'd and veer'd. The shipmates, The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off With throats unslaked, with black One after one, by the star-dogged One after au lips baked, It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship. And its ribs are seen as bars on the face of the setting Sun. The spectrewoman and her death-mate, and no other on board the skeleton-ship. Like vessel, like crew! in-Death have The western wave was all a flame, denly Betwixt us and the Sun. Moon, Too quick for groan or sigh, pang, And cursed me with his eye. Four times fifty living men (And I heard nor sigh nor groan), With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropp'd down one by one. other, His shipmates drop down dead The souls did from their bodies fly, But Life-in- PART IV. "I FEAR thee, ancient Mariner! And straight the Sun was fleck'd I fear thy skinny hand! with bars, (Heaven's Mother send us grace!) As if through a dungeon-grate he peer'd With broad and burning face. Death begins her work on the ancient Mariner. Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding- But the ancient Did peer, as through a grate; And is that woman all her crew? Her lips were red, her looks were Her locks were yellow as gold: Who thicks man's blood with cold. Death, and Life- The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice; “The game is done! I've won, I've The many men, so beautiful! Lived on; and so did I. I look'd upon the rotting sea, I look'd to Heaven, and tried to pray; I closed my lids, and kept them close, Lay like a load on my weary eye The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance. He despiseth the creatures of the calm. And envieth tha: they should live, and so many lie dead. But the curse liv eth for him in the eye of the dead men. For the two last lines of this stanza, I am indebted to Mr. Wordsworth. It was on a delightful walk from Nether Stowey to Dulverton, with him and his sister, in the Autumn of 1797 that this Poem was planned, and in part composed. But oh more horrible than that curse. And yet I could not die. And soon I heard a roaring wind: The upper air burst into life! n his loneliness The moving Moon went up the sky, And a hundred fire-flags sheen, and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still so journ, yet still move onward; and everywhere the blue sky belongs to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their own natural homes, which they enter unan Bounced, as lords that are certainly expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival. By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm. Their beauty and their happiness. Her beams bemock'd the sultry main, The charmed water burnt alway Beyond the shadow of the ship And when they rear'd, the elfish light Within the shadow of the ship Was a flash of golden fire. O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gush'd from my He blesseth them And I bless'd them unaware: in his heart. To and fro they were hurried about! And the coming wind did roar more And the sails did sigh like sedge; The Moon was at its edge. The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The Moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, He heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotious in the sky and the element. The helmsman steer'd, the ship Yet never a breeze up blew; Sure my kind saint took pity on me, Where they were wont to do; The spell begins The self-same moment I could pray ;| to break. By grace of the The Albatross fell off, and sank PART V. On Sleep! it is a gentle thing, They raised their limbs like lifeless -We were a ghastly crew. The body of my brother's son To Mary Queen the praise be given!" I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" Heaven, That slid into my soul. The silly buckets on the deck, holy Mother, the ancient Mariner is refreshed with That had so long remain'd, [dew; I dreamt that they were fill'd with "T was not those souls that filed in Which to their corses came again, ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on. But not by the souls of the men, nor by dæmons of earth or middle air, but by a blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the For when it dawn'd-they dropp'd guardian saint. their arms, My lips were wet, my throat was cold, And cluster'd round the mast; My garments all were dank; Sure I had drunken in my dreams, And still my body drank. Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies pass'd. · I moved, and could not feel my Around, around, flew each sweet limbs : I was so light-almost I thought that I had died in sleep, sound, Then darted to the Sun; Slowly the sounds came back again, clonesome spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the line, in obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance. The Polar Spirit's fellow dæmons, the invisible inhabitants of the Sometimes, a-drooping from the sky, With their sweet jargoning! And now 't was like all instruments, And now it is an angel's song, Still as a slave before his lord, It ceased; yet still the sails made on Up to the Moon is cast A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, If he may know which way to go; That to the sleeping woods all night See, brother, see! how graciously Singeth a quiet tune. Till noon we quietly sailed on, Slowly and smoothly went the ship, Moved onward from beneath. Under the keel nine fathom deep, The sails at noon left off their tune, The Sun, right up above the mast, With a short uneasy motion. Then like a pawing horse let go, How long in that same fit I lay, But ere my living life return'd, element, take part I heard and in my soul discern'd Two VOICES in the air. in his wrong; and two of them relate, one to the other, that penance long and heavy for the an cient Mariner bath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward. her "Is it he?" quoth one, "Is this the By him who died on cross, I view'd the ocean green, With his cruel bow he laid full low Of what had else been seen- "The spirit who bideth by himself He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow." The other was a softer voice, Quoth he, "The man hath penance And penance more will do." Like one, that on a lonesome road on, And turns no more his head; But soon there breathed a wind on me, That stands above the rock: The moonlight steep'd in silentness And the bay was white with silent The angelic spir- Till, rising from the same, its leave the dead bodies, And appear in their own forms of light. "Strange, by my faith!" the Hermit Approacheth the ship with wonder said "And they answer not our cheer! How thin they are and sere! Full many shapes that shadows were, Unless perchance it were A little distance from the prow Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat; A man all light, a seraph-man, Brown skeletons of leaves that lag When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow, That eats the she-wolf's young." "Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look- I am a-fear'd"—"Push on, push on!" This seraph band, each waved his Said the Hermit cheerily. hand: It was a heavenly sight! They stood as signals to the land This seraph band, each waved his The boat came closer to the ship, The boat came close beneath the ship, Under the water it rumbled on, No voice did they impart- But soon I heard the dash of oars, I heard the Pilot's cheer; The ship suddenly sinketh Stunn'd by that loud and dreadful The ancient Ma sound, Which sky and ocean smote, My head was turn'd perforce away, Like one that hath been seven days And I saw a boat appear. The Pilot and the Pilot's boy, I saw a third-I heard his voice : drown'd My body lay afloat; But swift as dreams, myself I found Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, riner is saved in the Pilot's boat |