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'The ship was cheer'd, the harbour clear'd,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the light-house 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 roar'd 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 crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd, 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 hail'd 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 steer'd 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 perch'd for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,,

Glimmer'd the white moon-shine.'

'God save thee, ancient Mariner !

From the fiends, that plague thee thus !—

6

Why look'st thou so ? '-' With my cross-bow

I shot the Albatross !'

PART II

'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 averr'd, I had kill'd 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 averr'd, I had kill'd 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 stream'd off 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!

'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 assured 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 wither'd 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.'

PART III

'There pass'd a weary time. Each throat Was parch'd, 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 seem'd a little speck,
And then it seem'd 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 near'd and near'd:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tack'd and veered.