And the good south wind still blew And every tongue, through utter drought, behind, But no sweet bird did follow, Nor any day, for food or play, And I had done a hellish thing, For all averred, I had killed the bird 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, 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 PART III. There passed a weary time. Each throat 'Twas right, said they, such birds to When looking westward, I beheld 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. A something in the sky. At first it seemed a little speck, It moved and moved, and took at last A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt And still it neared and neared; 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, Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; Water, water, everywhere, The very deep did rot: O Christ! Yea, shiny things did crawl with legs About, about, in reel and rout, green, and blue, and white. 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! With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, Agape they heard me call: Grammercy! they for joy did grin, See! see! (I cried,) she tacks no more! Without a breeze, without a tide, And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud,) How fast she nears and nears! I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand so brown." Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-guest! Are those her ribs through which the Sun Alone, alone, all, all alone, Did peer, as through a grate ? Is that a Death? and are there two? Her lips were red, her looks were free, The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out; We listened and looked sideways up! From the sails the dew did drip Till clomb above the eastern bar One after one, by the star-dogged Moon, "I fear thee, ancient mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! Alone on a wide, wide sea! The many men so beautiful! I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; I closed my lids, and kept them close, Lay like a load on my weary eye, The look with which they looked on me An orphan's curse would drag to hell But oh more terrible than that eye ! Is the curse in a dead man's The moving Moon went up the sky, Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched the water-snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white And thou art long, and lank, and brown, And when they reared, the elfish light As is the ribbed sea-sand. Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware: The selfsame moment I could pray; 200. THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER, § 2. I thought that I had died in sleep, And soon I heard a roaring wind: It did not come anear; But with its sound it shook the sails, The upper air burst into life! The Moon was at its edge. COLERIDGE. The loud wind never reached the ship, They groaned, they stirred, they all up rose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes : The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, They raised their limbs like lifeless tools-- The body of my brother's son Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope, The thick black cloud was cleft, and still Sometimes a-dropping from the sky, The Moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag, I heard the sky-lark sing; Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seemed to fill the sea and air With their sweet jargoning! And now 'twas like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel's song That makes the heavens be mute. It ceased; yet still the sails made on That to the sleeping woods all night Till noon we quietly sailed on, The Sun, right up above the mast, Then like a pawing horse let go, But ere my living life returned, PART VI. First Voice. But tell me, tell me! speak again, Thy soft response renewing What makes that ship drive on so fast! What is the ocean doing? Second Voice. Still as a slave before his lord, If he may know which way to go; First Voice. But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind? Second Voice. The air is cut away before, Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high! For slow and slow that ship will go, 'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high; The dead men stood together. "Is it he?" quoth one, "Is this the The pang, the curse, with which they died, man? By him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless albatross. "The spirit who bideth by himself He loved the bird that loved the man The other was a softer voice, Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, And penance more will do." Had never passed away: I could not draw my eyes from theirs, Nor turn them up to pray. And now this spell was snapt: once more I viewed the ocean green, And looked far north, yet little saw Of what had else been seen Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, But soon there breathed a wind on me, Its path was not upon the sea, It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed Is this the hill? is this the kirk? The harbour-bay was clear as glass, And on the bay the moonlight lay, But soon I heard the dash of oars, My head was turned perforce away, The pilot and the pilot's boy, I saw a third-I heard his voice : He singeth loud his godly hymns PART VII This hermit good lives in that wood He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve-- It is the moss that wholly hides The rock shone bright, the kirk no less, The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk, That stands above the rock : The moonlight steeped in silentness And the bay was white with silent light, Full many shapes, that shadows were, A little distance from the prow A man all light, a seraph-man, This seraph-band, each waved his hand : They stood as signals to the land, "Why, this is strange, I trow! Where are those lights so many and fair, "Strange, by my faith!" the hermit said— How thin they are and sere! I never saw aught like to them, Brown skeletons of leaves that lay When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow, "Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look- I am a-feared"-" Push on, push on !" This seraph-band, each waved his hand: The boat came closer to the ship, No voice did they impart No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart. But I nor spake nor stirred; The boat came close beneath the ship, |