It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three;

'By thy long gray beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

2.

'The bridegroom's doors are opened wide,

And I am next of kin :

The guests are met, the feast is set:
Mayst hear the merry din.'

3.

He holds him with his glittering eye-
The wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three-years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.

4.

The wedding-guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man,

The bright-eyed Mariner.

5.

'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the light-house top.

6.

'The sun came up upon the left,

Out of the sea came he;

And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.

7.

'Higher and higher every day,

Till over the mast at noon

The wedding-guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.

8.

The bride hath paced into the hall—
Red as a rose is she;

Nodding their heads, before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

9.

The wedding-guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear!
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

10.

'And now the storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong;
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.

11.

'With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,

The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.

12.

'And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold;
And ice mast-high came floating by,
As green as emerald.

13.

'And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen :

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken-
The ice was all between.

14.

'The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around;

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!

15.

'At length did cross an albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;

As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.

16.

'It ate the food it ne'er had ate,
And round and round it flew,
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!

17.

'And a good south wind sprung up behind;

The albatross did follow,

And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariners' hollo!

18.

'In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moonshine.'

19.

'God save thee, ancient Mariner,

From the fiends that plague thee thus !

Why look'st thou so?'

I shot the albatross.

20.

'With my cross-bow

'And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work 'em woe;
For all averred I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow!

"Ah wretch !" said they, "the bird to slay
That made the breeze to blow!"

21.

'Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,

The glorious sun uprist:

Then all averred I had killed the bird

That brought the fog and mist.

""Twas right," said they, "such birds to slay That bring the fog and mist."

22.

'Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,

'Twas sad as sad could be;

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea.

23.

'Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

24.

'Water, water everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

25.

'About, about, in reel and rout,

The death-fires danced at night;

The water, like a witch's oils,

Burned green, and blue, and white.

26.

'And every tongue, through utter drought, Was withered at the root;

We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot.

27.

'Ah, well-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross the albatross

About my neck was hung.