A little distance from the prow I turned my eyes upon the deck- Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat; A man all light, a seraph-man, This seraph-band, each waved his hand; It was a heavenly sight: They stood as signals to the land, This seraph-band, each waved his hand, But soon I heard the dash of oars, The pilot, and the pilot's boy, I saw a third-I heard his voice; He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away The albatross's blood." PART VII. This hermit good lives in that wood That come from a far countrée. He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve- It is the moss that wholly hides The skiff-boat ner'd; I heard them talk, Strange, by my faith!' the hermit said · And they answered not our cheer. The planks look warped, and see those sails How thin they are and sere! I never saw aught like to them The skeletons of leaves that lag My forest brook along : When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow, And the owlet whoops to the wolf below 'Dear Lord! it has a fiendish look- I am a-feared.'-' Push on, push on!' The boat came closer to the ship, Under the water it rumbled on, Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, Which sky and ocean smote, Like one that hath been seven days drowned My body lay afloat: But, swift as dreams, myself I found Within the pilot's boat. Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, I moved my lips: the pilot shrieked, The holy hermit raised his eyes 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, And now all in my own countrée The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!' Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say Forthwith this frame of mind was wrenched With a woeful 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 This heart within me burns. pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech; The moment that his face I see I know the man that must hear me; What loud uproar bursts from that door! The wedding-guests are there; But in the garden-bower the bride And brid-maids singing are; And hark the little vesper-bell Which biddeth me to prayer. O wedding-guest! this soul hath been O sweeter than the marriage-feast, "Tis sweeter far to me To walk together to the Kirk With a goodly company : To walk together to the Kirk While each to his great father bends, and babes, and loving friends, And youths, and maidens gay. Old men, Farewell, farewell! But this I tell To thee, thou wedding-guest! He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best who loveth best The Mariner, whose eye is bright, |