Instead of the cross the albatross PART III. "So pass'd a weary time; each throat At first it seemed a little speck, It moved and moved, and took at last A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! It plunged, and tacked, and veered. With throat unslaked, with black lips baked, Through utter drought all dumb we stood With throat unslaked, with black lips baked, 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 steddies with upright keel!" The western wave was all a flame, When that strange shape drove suddenly And straight the sun was flecked with bars Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) Are those her sails that glance in the sun Are those her ribs, through which the sun His bones were black with many a crack, They were patched with purple and green. Her lips were red, her looks were free, The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were playing dice; 'The game is done! I've won, I've won " Quoth she, and whistled thrice. A gust of wind sterte up behind And whistled through his bones; Thro' the hole of his eyes and the hole of his mouth Half-whistles and half-groans. With never a whisper in the sea While clombe above the eastern bar The horned moon, with one bright star One after one by the horned moon Each turned his face with a ghastly pang Four times fifty living men, With never a sigh or groan, Their souls did from their bodies fly,- And every soul it passed me by, Like the whiz of my cross-bow." PART IV. "I fear thee, Ancient Mariner ! I fear thy skinny hand; And thou art long, and lank, and brown, I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand so brown"— "Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-guest! This body dropt not down. Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on the wide, wide sea; And Christ would take no pity on My soul in agony. The many men so beautiful, And they all dead did lie! I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray; A wicked whisper came and made I closed my lids and kept them close, Till the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they ; The look with which they looked on me, Had never passed away. An orphan's curse would drag to Hell A spirit from on high: But O! more horrible than that Is the curse in a dead man's eye! Seven davs. seven nights I saw that curse, And yet I could not die. The moving moon went up the sky, And no where did abide : Softly she was going up And a star or two beside Her beams bemocked the sultry main Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched the water-snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white; And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gusht from my heart, The self-same moment I could pray; Like lead into the sea." |