"I FEAR thee, ancient Mariner!

I fear thy skinny hand!

And thou art long, and lank, and brown,

As is the ribbed sea-sand.

"I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown."

"Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! This body dropp'd not down.

"Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea!

And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.

"The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:

And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I.

"I look'd upon the rotting sea,

And drew my eyes away;

I look'd upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.

"I look'd to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gush'd,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.

*Concluded from the January number.

"I closed my lids, and kept them close, And 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 look'd on me
Had never pass'd away.

"An orphan's curse would drag to hell

A spirit from on high;

But O! more terrible than that

Is the curse in a dead man's eye!

Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die.

"The moving Moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide :

Softly she was going up,

And a star or two beside

"Her beams bemock'd the sultry main,

Like April hoar-frost spread;

But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charmed water burn'd alway
A still and awful red.

"Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watch'd the water-snakes:

They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they rear'd, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes.

"Within the shadow of the ship I watch'd their rich attire:

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,

They coil'd and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire.

"O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:

A spring of love gush'd from my heart,
And I bless'd them unaware:

Sure my kind star took pity on me,
And I bless'd them unaware.

"The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free

The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

"O Sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!

To Mary Queen the praise be given !
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.

"The silly buckets on the deck,

That had so long remain'd,

I dream'd that they were fill'd with dew; And when I awoke, it rain'd.

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My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;

Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.

"I moved, and could not feel my limbs:

I was so light-almost

I thought that I had died in sleep,

And was a blessed ghost.

"As soon I heard a roaring wind:

It did not come anear;

But with its sound it shook the sails,

That were so thin and sere.

"The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,

To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,

The wan stars danced between.

"And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge;

And the rain pour'd down from one black

To have seen those dead men rise.

The helmsman steer'd, the ship moved on; Yet never a breeze up blew ;

The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;

They raised their limbs like lifeless tools-
We were a ghastly crew.

"The body of my brother's son
Stood by me, knee to knee:

The body and I pull'd at one rope,
But he said naught to me."

"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!"
"Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!

"Twas not those souls that fled in pain,
Which to their corses came again,
But a troop of spirits bless'd:

For when it dawn'd-they dropp'd their arms,
And cluster'd round the mast;

Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,

And from their bodies pass'd.

"Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;

Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mix'd, now one by one.

"Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that are,
How they seem'd 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

A pleasant noise till noon,
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,

That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.

"Till noon we quietly sail'd on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.

"Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.

The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.

"The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fix'd her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion-
Backward and forward half her length
With a short uneasy motion.

"We drifted o'er the harbor-bar,
And I with sobs did pray-
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

"The harbor-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn !

And on the bay the moonlight lay,

And the shadow of the moon.

"The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,

That stands above the rock:

The moonlight steep'd in silentness

The steady weathercock.

"And the bay was white with silent light, Till, rising from the same,

Full many shapes, that shadows were,

In crimson colors came.

"A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were :

I turn'd my eyes upon the deck

O Christ! what saw I there!

"Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And by the holy rood!

A man of light, a seraph-man,
On every corse there stood.

"This seraph-band, each waved his hand, It was a heavenly sight!

They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;

"This seraph-band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart

No voice; but O! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.

"But soon I heard the dash of oars,

I heard the pilot's cheer;

My head was turn'd perforce away, And I saw a boat appear.

"The pilot and the pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.

"I saw a third-I heard his voice:
It is the hermit good!

He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.

He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The albatross's blood.

"This hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.

"He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve

He hath a cushion plump:

It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak stump.

"The skiff-boat near'd: I heard them talk, Why, this is strange, I trow!

4

Where are those lights so many and fair,

That signal made but now?'

"Strange, by my faith!' the hermit said'And they answer'd not our cheer.

The planks look'd warp'd! and see those sails,

How thin they are and sere!

I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were

"Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;

When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below
That eats the she-wolf's young.'

"Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look-
(The pilot made reply)

I am a-fear'd'-' Push on, push on!'
Said the hermit cheerily.

"The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirr'd;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.
"Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:

It reach'd the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.