I.
80 lines✦
t is an ancyent Marinere,And he stoppeth one of three:“By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye“Now wherefore stoppest me? “The Bridegroom’s doors are open’d wide“And I am next of kin;“The Guests are met, the Feast is set,--“May’st hear the merry din.-- But still he holds the wedding-guest--There was a Ship, quoth he--“Nay, if thou’st got a laughsome tale,“Marinere! come with me.” He holds him with his skinny hand,Quoth he, there was a Ship--“Now get thee hence, thou grey-beard Loon!“Or my Staff shall make thee skip.” He holds him with his glittering eye--The wedding guest stood stillAnd listens like a three year’s child;The Marinere hath his will. The wedding-guest sate on a stone,He cannot chuse but hear:And thus spake on that ancyent man,The bright-eyed Marinere. The Ship was cheer’d, the Harbour clear’d--Merrily did we dropBelow 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 rightWent 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 pac’d into the Hall,Red as a rose is she;Nodding their heads before her goesThe merry Minstralsy. The wedding-guest he beat his breast,Yet he cannot chuse but hear:And thus spake on that ancyent Man,The bright-eyed Marinere. Listen, Stranger! Storm and Wind,A Wind and Tempest strong!For days and weeks it play’d us freaks--Like Chaff we drove along. Listen, Stranger! Mist and Snow,And it grew wond’rous cauld:And Ice mast-high came floating byAs green as Emerauld. And thro’ the drifts the snowy cliftsDid send a dismal sheen;Ne shapes of men ne 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 of a swound. At length did cross an Albatross,Thorough the Fog it came;And an it were a Christian Soul,We hail’d it in God’s name. The Marineres gave it biscuit-worms,And round and round it flew:The Ice did split with a Thunder-fit;The Helmsman steer’d us thro’. And a good south wind sprung up behind,The Albatross did follow;And every day for food or playCame to the Marinere’s hollo! In mist or cloud on mast or shroudIt perch’d for vespers nine,Whiles all the night thro’ fog-smoke whiteGlimmer’d the white moon-shine. “God save thee, ancyent Marinere!“From the fiends that plague thee thus--“Why look’st thou so?”--with my cross bowI shot the Albatross.
✦