And some in dreams assured were
Of the spirit that plagued us so:
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow..

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

We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choak'd with soot.

may be consulted.

A spirit had followed

them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantino

politan, Michael Psellus,

They are very numerous, and there is no

climate or element without one or more.

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks

Had I from old and young!

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.

The ship

mates, in
their sore
distress,

would fain
throw the

whole guilt

on the ancient

Mariner: in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his

neck.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

PART THE THIRD.

The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the ele

ment afar off.

THERE passed a weary time. Each throat

Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye!
When looking westward, I beheld

A something in the sky.

At first it seem'd a little speck,

And then it seem'd a mist:

It moved and moved, and took at last

A certain shape, I wist.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!

And still it near'd and near'd:
And as if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tack'd and veer'd.

We could nor laugh nor wail;

Through utter drought all dumb we stood!

I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,

And cried, A sail! a sail!

With throat unslacked, with black lips

baked,

Agape they heard me call:

Gramercy! they for joy did grin,

And all at once their breath drew in,

As they were drinking all.

See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!

Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steddies with upright keel!

The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave

Rested the broad bright Sun;

When that strange shape drove suddenly

Betwixt us and the Sun.

At its nearer approach, it seemeth him to be a ship; and at a dear ransom he

freeth his speech from the bonds of

thirst.

A flash of joy.

It seemeth

him but the skeleton of a

ship.

And its ribs

are seen as bars on the

face of the setting Sun.

The spectrewoman and her deathmate, and no other on board the

And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven's Mother send us grace !)

As if through a dungeon-grate he peer'd, 'With broad and burning face.

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!

Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres !

Are those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate?

And is that Woman all her crew?

Is that a DEATH? and are there two?

IS DEATH that woman's mate?

Her lips were red, her looks were free, skeleton-ship. Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy,

Like vessel,

like crew!

DEATH, and
LIFE-IN-
DEATH have

The Night-Mair LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.

The naked hulk alongside came,

And the twain were casting dice;

"The game is done! I've, I've won !" Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

A gust of wind sterte up behind

And whistled through his bones;

Through the holes of his eyes and the hole

of his mouth,

Half whistles and half groans.

The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:

At one stride comes the dark;

With far-heard whisper, o'er thes eisea,

Off shot the spectre-bark.

We listen'd and look'd sideways up!

Fear at my heart, as at a cup,

My life-blood seem'd to sip!

The stars were dim, and thick the night,

The steersman's face by his lamp gleam'd

white;

From the sails the dews did drip

Till clombe above the eastern bar

The horned Moon, with one bright star

Within the nether tip.

diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth the ancientMariner

At the rising

of the Moon,