The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The Bride hath paced into the hall : Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, "And now the storm-blast came, and he He struck with his o'er-taking wings, "With sloping masts and dipping prow, And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared 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, 66 And through the drifts the snowy clifts Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken- "The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound! "At length did cross an Albatross, As if it had been a Christian soul, "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 steered us through! "And a good south wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hollo! "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white "God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends that plague thee thus !— I shot the Albatross. "And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe: For all averr'd I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow ! 'Ah wretch!' said they, 'the bird to slay, That made the wind to blow!' "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. 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist. "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. 66 Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; Upon a painted ocean. "Water, water everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Nor any drop to drink. "About, about, in reel and rout And every tongue, through utter drought, 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 Instead of the cross, the Albatross Each throat "There passed a weary time. "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. "See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Hither to work us weal; Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel! "The western wave was all a-flame, The day was well nigh done! Almost upon the western wave Rested the broad, bright Sun : When that strange shape drove suddenly Betwixt us and the Sun. "And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, As if through a dungeon grate he peered "Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) Are those her sails glance in the Sun, "Are those her ribs through which the Sun Did peer, as through a grate ? And is that Woman all her crew ? Is that a Death? and are there two? "The naked hull alongside came, "The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out : At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper o'er the sea, Off shot the spectre-bark. "The stars were dim and thick the night, The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white; From the sails the dew did drip Till clomb above the eastern bar The horned Moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip. "Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan,) |