One
It is an ancient
Mariner,
And he stoppeth
one of three.
'By thy long grey
beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st
thou me?
The Bridegroom's
doors are opened wide,
And I am next of
kin;
The guests are
met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the
merry din.'
He holds him with
his skinny hand,
'There was a ship,'
quoth he.
'Hold off!
unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
Eftsoons his hand
dropt he.
He holds him with
his glittering eye--
The Wedding-Guest
stood still,
And listens like
a three years' child:
The Mariner hath
his will.
The Wedding-Guest
sat on a stone:
He cannot choose
but hear;
And thus spake
on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed
Mariner.
'The ship was cheered,
the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we
drop
Below the kirk,
below the hill,
Below the lighthouse
top.
The Sun came up
upon the left,
Out of the sea
came he!
And he shone bright,
and on the right
Went down into
the sea.
Higher and higher
every day,
Till over the mast
at noon--'
The Wedding-Guest
here beat his breast,
For he heard the
loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced
into the hall,
Red as a rose is
she;
Nodding their heads
before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.
The Wedding-Guest
he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose
but hear;
And thus spake
on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed
Mariner.
And now the Storm-blast
came, and he
Was tyrannous and
strong:
He struck with
his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south
along.
With sloping masts
and dipping prow,
As who pursued
with yell and blow
Still treads the
shadow of his foe,
And forward bends
his head,
The ship drove
fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye
we fled.
And now there came
both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous
cold:
And ice, mast-high,
came floating by,
As green as emerald.
And through the
drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal
sheen:
Nor shapes of men
nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all
between.
The ice was here,
the ice was there,
The ice was all
around:
It cracked and
growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in
a swound!
At length did cross
an Albatross,
Thorough the fog
it came;
As if it had been
a Christian soul,
We hailed it in
God's name.
It ate the food
it ne'er had eat,
And round and round
it flew.
The ice did split
with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered
us through!
And a good south
wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did
follow,
And every day,
for food or play,
Came to the mariners'
hollo!
In mist or cloud,
on mast or shroud,
It perched for
vespers nine;
Whiles all the
night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white
Moon-shine.'
'God save thee,
ancient Mariner!
From the fiends,
that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou
so?'--'With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.'
________________________
Two
The Sun now rose
upon the right:
Out of the sea
came he,
Still hid in mist,
and on the left
Went down into
the sea.
And the good south
wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird
did follow,
Nor any day for
food or play
Came to the mariners'
hollo!
And I had done a
hellish thing,
And it would work
'em woe:
For all averred,
I had killed the bird
That made the breeze
to blow.
Ah wretch! said
they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze
to blow!
Nor dim nor red
like God's own head,
The glorious Sun
uprist:
Then all averred,
I had killed the bird
That brought the
fog and mist.
'Twas right, said
they, such birds to slay,
That bring the
fog and mist.
The fair breeze
blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed
free;
We were the first
that ever burst
Into that silent
sea.
Down dropt the breeze,
the sails dropt down,
'Twas sad as sad
could be;
And we did speak
only to break
The silence of
the sea!
All in a hot and
copper sky,
The bloody Sun,
at noon,
Right up above
the mast did stand,
No bigger than
the Moon.
Day after day, day
after day,
We stuck, nor breath
nor motion;
As idle as a painted
ship
Upon a painted
ocean.
Water, water, every
where,
And all the boards
did shrink;
Water, water, every
where,
Nor any drop to
drink.
The very deep did
rot: O Christ!
That ever this
should be!
Yea, slimy things
did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy
sea.
About, about, in
reel and rout
The death-fires
danced at night;
The water, like
a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and
blue and white.
And some in dreams
assur'ed were
Of the Spirit that
plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep
he had followed us
From the land of
mist and snow.
And every tongue,
through utter drought,
Was withered at
the root;
We could not speak,
no more than if
We had been choked
with soot.
Ah! well a-day!
what evil looks
Had I from old
and young!
Instead of the
cross, the Albatross
About my neck was
hung.
____________________
Three
There passed a weary
time. Each throat
Was parched, and
glazed each eye.
A weary time! a
weary time!
How glazed each
weary eye,
When looking westward,
I beheld
A something in
the sky.
At first it seemed
a little speck,
And then it seemed
a mist;
It moved and moved,
and took at last
A certain shape,
I wist.
A speck, a mist,
a shape, I wist!
And still it neared
and neared:
As if it dodged
a water-sprite,
It plunged and
tacked and veered.
With throats unslaked,
with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh
nor wail;
Through utter drought
all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I
sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail!
a sail!
With throats unslaked,
with black lips baked,
Agape they heard
me call:
Gramercy! they
for joy did grin
And all at once
their breath drew in,
As they were drinking
all.
See! see! (I cried)
she tacks no more!
Hither to work
us weal;
Without a breeze,
without a tide,
She steadies with
upright keel!
The western wave
was all a-flame.
The day was well
nigh done!
Almost upon the
western wave
Rested the broad
bright Sun;
When that strange
shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and
the Sun.
And straight the
Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother
send us grace!)
As if through a
dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and
burning face.
Alas! (thought I,
and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears
and nears!
Are those her sails
that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres?
Are those her ribs
through which the Sun
Did peer, as through
a grate?
And is that Woman
all her crew?
Is that a DEATH?
and are there two?
Is DEATH that woman's
mate?
Her lips were red,
her looks were free,
Her locks were
yellow as gold:
Her skin was as
white as leprosy,
The Night-mare
Life-in-Death was she,
Who thicks man's
blood with cold.
The naked hulk alongside
came,
And the twain were
casting dice;
'The game is done!
I've won! I've won!'
Quoth she, and
whistles thrice.
The Sun's rim dips;
the stars rush out:
At one stride comes
the dark;
With far-heard
whisper, o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.
We listened and
looked sideways up!
Fear at my heart,
as at a cup,
My life-blood seemed
to sip!
The stars were
dim, and thick the night,
The steersman's
face by his lamp gleamed white;
From the sails
the dew did drip--
Till clomb above
the eastern bar
The horn'ed Moon,
with one bright star
Within the nether
tip.
One after one, by
the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan
or sigh,
Each turned his
face with a ghastly 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 dropped down
one by one.
The souls did from
their bodies fly,--
They fled to bliss
or woe!
And every soul,
it passed me by,
Like the whizz
of my cross-bow!