XXXVIII THE ANCIENT MARINER It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ? "The Bridegroom's doors are open'd wide, And I am next of kin : The guests are met, the feast is set : He holds him with his glittering eye— The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared. Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. "The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he, And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea. "Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon 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, 66 And now the storm-blast came, and he He struck with his o'er-taking wings, "With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow 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, "And through the drifts the snowy Did send a dismal sheen: 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 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 !— "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. "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; Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. "About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue, and white. "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 Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung. "There passed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! a weary time! When looking westward, I beheld "At first it seemed a little speck, It moved and moved, and took at last “A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! And still it neared and neared: As if it dodged a water-sprite, 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 |