| "I fear thee, ancyent Marinere! | |
| "I fear thy skinny hand; | |
| "And thou art long and lank and brown | |
"As is the ribb'd Sea-sand.
| |
| "I fear thee and thy glittering eye | 220 |
| "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 the wide wide Sea; | |
| And Christ would take no pity on | |
My soul in agony.
| |
| The many men so beautiful, | |
| And they all dead did lie! | |
| And a million million slimy things | 230 |
Liv'd on—and so did I.
| |
| I look'd upon the rotting Sea, | |
| And drew my eyes away; | |
| I look'd upon the eldritch deck, | |
And there the dead men lay.
| |
| I look'd to Heaven, and try'd to pray; | |
| But or ever a prayer had gusht, | |
| A wicked whisper came and made | |
My heart as dry as dust.
| |
| I clos'd my lids and kept them close, | 240 |
| Till the balls like pulses beat; | |
| For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky | |
| Lay like a load on my weary eye, | |
And the dead were at my feet.
| |
| The cold sweat melted from their limbs, | |
| Ne rot, ne reek did they; | |
| The look with which they look'd on me, | |
Had never pass'd away.
| |
| An orphan's curse would drag to Hell | |
| A spirit from on high; | 250 |
| But O! more horrible than that | |
| Is the curse in a dead man's eye! | |
| Seven days, seven nights I saw that curse, | |
And yet I could not die.
| |
| The moving Moon went up the sky | |
| And no where did abide: | |
| Softly she was going up | |
And a star or two beside—
| |
| Her beams bemock'd the sultry main | |
| Like morning frosts yspread; | 260 |
| But where the ship's huge shadow lay, | |
| The charmed water burnt alway | |
A still and awful red.
| |
| Beyond the shadow of the ship | |
| I watch'd the water-snakes: | |
| They mov'd in tracks of shining white; | |
| And when they rear'd, the elfish light | |
Fell off in hoary flakes.
| |
| Within the shadow of the ship | |
| I watch'd their rich attire: | 270 |
| Blue, glossy green, and velvet black | |
| They coil'd and swam; and every track | |
Was a flash of golden fire.
| |
| O happy living things! no tongue | |
| Their beauty might declare: | |
| A spring of love gusht from my heart, | |
| And I bless'd them unaware! | |
| Sure my kind saint took pity on me, | |
And I bless'd them unaware.
| |
| The self-same moment I could pray; | 280 |
| And from my neck so free | |
| The Albatross fell off, and sank | |
| Like lead into the sea. | |