"I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! 225 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 dropt not down. "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! "The many men, so beautiful! And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I. "I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked upon the rotting deck, "I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; "I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; 230 235 240 245 For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky, Lay like a load on my weary eye, 250 "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; 220 But oh! more horrible than that Is the curse in a dead man's eye! 255 260 Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die. They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light 275 Fell off in hoary flakes. "Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track 280 Was a flash of golden fire. "O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gushed from my heart, 285 "Oh, 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, 295 That slid into my soul. "The silly buckets on the deck, That had so long remained, "The loud wind never reached the ship, Yet now the ship moved on! Beneath the lightning and the Moon 330 "They groaned, they stirred, they all up rose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise. "The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; Yet never a breeze up-blew; The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do: I dreamt that they were filled with dew; They raised their limbs like lifeless tools And when I awoke, it rained. 300 We were a ghastly crew. "The body of my brother's son Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope, But he said nought to me." 335 340 |