"Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round; And all was still, save that the hill Was telling of the sound. "I moved my lips-the Pilot shrieked And fell down in a fit; The holy Hermit raised his eyes, And prayed where he did sit. "I took the oars: the Pilot's boy, Laughed loud and long, and all the while His eyes went to and fro. 'Ha! ha!' quoth he, full plain I see, The Devil knows how to row.' "And now, all in my own countree, I stood on the firm land! The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, The ancient Ma-"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!' riner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve Say quick,' quoth he, ‘I bid thee say— him; and the penance of life falls on him: And ever and anon throughout his future life an agony constraineth him to travel from land to land, What manner of man art thou?' "Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woful agony, Which forced me to begin my tale; And then it left me free. "Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns: And till my ghastly tale is told, "I pass, like night, from land to land; I know the man that must hear me : |