The many men so beautiful,

And they all dead did lie ! And a million million slimy things 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,

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:

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;

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:

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; And from my neck so free

The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.

V.

O sleep, it is a gentle thing

Belov'd from pole to pole!

To Mary-queen the praise be yeven She sent the gentle sleep from heaven

That slid into my soul.

The silly buckets on the deck

That had so long remain'd,

I dreamt that they were fill'd with dew And when I awoke it rain'd.

My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank;

Sure I had drunken in my dreams

And still my body drank.