"The silly buckets on the deck, That had so long remained, I dreamt that they were filled with dew; "My lips were wet, my throat was cold, Sure I had drunken in my dreams, "I moved, and could not feel my limbs: I was so light almost I thought that I had died in sleep, "And soon I heard a roaring wind: But with its sound it shook the sails, The upper air burst into life! And a hundred fire-flags sheen, To and fro they were hurried about! The wan stars danced between. "And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge; And the rain poured down from one black cloud, The Moon was at its edge. 66 "The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The Moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, "The loud wind never reached the ship, Yet now the ship moved on! Beneath the lightning and the Moon The dead men gave a groan. "They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, 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 upblew; The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do; They raised their limbs like lifeless tools, 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, I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" "Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest! 'T was not those souls that fled in pain, "For when it dawned- they dropped their arms, And clustered round the mast; Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies passed. Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the Sun; Slowly the sounds came back again, "Sometimes a-dropping from the sky How they seemed to fill the sea and air 66 And now 't was like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel's song, That makes the heavens be mute. "It ceased; yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night "Till noon we quietly sailed on, "Under the keel nine fathom deep, The sails at noon left off their tune, And the ship stood still alsó. "The Sun, right up above the mast, Had fixed her to the ocean; But in a minute she 'gan stir, With a short uneasy motion, Backwards and forwards half her length, With a short uneasy motion. "Then, like a pawing horse let go, She made a sudden bound: It flung the blood into my head, “How long in that same fit I lay, I have not to declare; But ere my living life returned, I heard, and in my soul discerned, "Is it he?' quoth one, 'is this the man? By Him who died on cross, With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless Albatross. "The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man "The other was a softer voice, As soft as honey-dew; Quoth he, The man hath penance done, "BUT tell me, tell me! speak again, Thy soft response renewing, What makes that ship drive on so fast? What is the ocean doing?' SECOND VOICE. "Still as a slave before his lord, The ocean hath no blast; His great bright eye most silently "If he may know which way to go; FIRST VOICE. "But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?' |