V. Composed while climbing Brockly Coomb 416 VII. "Pale Roamer thro' the Night!" 417 VIII. To the Author of The Robbers IX. Composed on a Journey homeward; the X. To a Friend, who asked how I felt when the Nurse first presented my Infant to me THE RHYME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. IN SEVEN PARTS. PART I. Ir is an Ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three: " By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye Now wherefore stoppest me? The bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin ; The guests are met, the feast is set,- But still he holds the wedding-guest- He holds him with his skinny hand, He holds him with his glittering eye The wedding-guest stood still B 12 ABABORLIAD And listens like a three years' child The wedding-guest sate on a stone, And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the light-house top. The sun came up upon the left, And he shone bright, and on the right Higher and higher every day, The bride hath paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her go The wedding-guest he beat his breast, "But now the north wind came more fierce, There came a tempest strong! And southward still for days and weeks And now there came both mist and snow, And ice mast-high came floating by As green as emerald. And through the drifts the Did send a dismal sheen; snowy clifts Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd,. A wild and ceaseless sound. At length did cross an albatross, The Mariners gave it biscuit-worms. And a good south wind sprung up behind, And every day for food or play Came to the Mariner's hollo! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white "God save thee, Ancient Mariner! From the fiends that plague thee thus!— Why look'st thou so?"-" With my cross bow PART II. "The sun now rose upon the right, Out of the sea came he; ✔ Still hid in mist; and on the left Went down into the sea. And the good south wind still blew behind, Nor any day for food or play And I had done an hellish thing, Nor dim nor red, like an angel's head, Then all averred, I had killed the bird X The breezes blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free: We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. Down dropp'd the breeze, the sails dropp'd down, 'Twas sad as sad could be, And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea. |