The wedding-guest he beat his breast,

Yet he cannot chuse but hear :

And thus spake on that ancient Man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

But now the Northwind came more fierce,
There came a Tempest strong!

And Southward still for days and weeks
Like Chaff we drove along.

And now there came both Mist and Snow,

And it grew wond'rous cold;

And Ice mast-high came floating by

As green as Emerald.

And thro' the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen;

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,
Thorough the Fog it came;

As if it had been a Christian Soul,
We hail'd it in God's name.

The Mariners gave it biscuit-worms,
And round and round it flew :

The Ice did split with a Thunder-fit;
The Helmsman steer'd us thro'.

And a good south wind sprung up behind,
The Albatross did follow ;

And every day for food or play

Came to the Mariner's hollo!

In mist or cloud on mast or shroud

It perch'd for vespers nine,

Whiles all the night thro' fog-smoke white Glimmer'd the white moon-shine.

"God save thee, ancient Mariner !

"From the fiends that plague thee thus

Why look'st thou so?-with my cross bow I shot the Albatross.

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,

But no sweet Bird did follow

Nor any day for food or play

Came to the Mariner's hollo!

And I had done an hellish thing
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averr'd, I had kill'd the Bird

That made the Breeze to blow.

Nor dim nor red, like an Angel's head,
The glorious Sun uprist:

Then all averr'd, I had kill'd the Bird

That brought the fog and mist.

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

The breezes blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow follow'd free:

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.

Down dropt the breeze, the Sails dropt down,

"Twas sad as sad could be,

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the Sea.