Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800 Volume I Part 13

Ah wel-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young; Instead of the Cross the Albatross About my neck was hung.

III.

So past a weary time; each throat Was parch'd, and glaz'd each eye, When, looking westward, I beheld A something in the sky.

At first it seem'd a little speck And then it seem'd a mist: It mov'd and mov'd, and took at last A certain shape, I wist.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!

And still it near'd and near'd; And, as if it dodg'd a water-sprite, It plung'd and tack'd and veer'd.

With throat unslack'd, with black lips bak'd We could nor laugh nor wail; Thro' utter drouth all dumb we stood Till I bit my arm and suck'd the blood, And cry'd, A sail! a sail!

With throat unslack'd, with black lips bak'd Agape they heard me call: Gramercy! they for joy did grin And all at once their breath drew in As they were drinking all.

See! See! (I cry'd) 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, 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 strait the Sun was fleck'd with bars (Heaven's mother send us grace) As if thro' a dungeon grate he peer'd With broad and burning face.

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) How fast she nears and nears!

Are those _her_ Sails that glance in the Sun Like restless gossameres?

Are those _her_ Ribs, thro' which the Sun Did peer, as thro' a grate?

And are those two all, all her crew.

That Woman, and her Mate?

_His_ bones were black with many a crack, All black and bare, I ween; Jet-black and bare, save where with rust Of mouldy damps and charnel crust They were patch'd with purple and green.

_Her_ lips were red, _her_ looks were free, _Her_ locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, And she was far liker Death than he; Her flesh made the still air cold.

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 thro' his bones; Thro' the holes of his eyes and the hole of his mouth Half-whistles and half-groans.

With never a whisper in the Sea Off darts the Spectre-ship; While clombe above the Eastern bar The horned Moon, with one bright Star Almost between the tips.

One after one by the horned Moon (Listen, O Stranger! to me) Each turn'd his face with a ghastly pang And curs'd me with his ee.

Four times fifty living men, With never a sigh or groan, With heavy thump, a lifeless lump They dropp'd down one by one.

Their souls did from their bodies fly,-- They fled to bliss or woe; And every soul it pa.s.s'd me by, Like, the whiz of my Cross-bow.

IV.

"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!

I fear thy skinny hand; And thou art long and lank and brown As is the ribb'd Sea-sand."

"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!

And a million million slimy things Liv'd on--and so did I.

I look'd upon the rotting Sea, And drew my eyes away; I look'd upon the ghastly deck, And there the dead men lay.

I look'd to Heaven, and try'd to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came and made My heart as dry as dust.

I clos'd my lids and kept them close, Till the b.a.l.l.s 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 pa.s.s'd away.

An orphan's curse would drag to h.e.l.l A spirit from on high: But O! more horrible 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 no where did abide: Softly she was going up And a star or two beside--

Her beams bemock'd the sultry main Like April h.o.a.r-frost spread; But where the ship's huge shadow lay, The charmed water burnt alway A still and awful red.

Beyond the shadow of the ship I watch'd the water-snakes: They mov'd in tracks of shining white; And when they rear'd, the elfish light Fell off in h.o.a.ry 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 gusht from my heart, And I bless'd them unaware!

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

The self-same moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea.

V.

O sleep, it is a gentle thing Belov'd 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 dreamt that they were fill'd with dew And when I awoke it rain'd.

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 mov'd and could not feel my limbs, I was so light, almost I thought that I had died in sleep, And was a blessed Ghost.

And 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.