But still he holds the wedding-guest

“ There was a Ship,” quoth hem “ Nay, if thou 'st got a laughsome tale,

Mariner! come with me.”

He holds him with his skinny hand,

Quoth he, “ There was a Ship—" “ Now get thee hence, thou gray-beard Loon!

Or my Staff shall make thee skip."

He holds him with his glittering eye

The wedding-guest stood still
And listens like a three years' child ;

The Mariner hath his will.

The wedding-guest sate on a stone,

He cannot choose but hear :
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,

Out of the Sea came he:
And he shone bright, and on the right

Went down into the sea.

Higher and higher every day,

Till over the mast at noon-
The wedding-guest here beat his breast,

For he heard the loud bassoon.

The Bride hath paced into the Hall,

Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her go

The merry Minstrelsy.

The wedding-guest he beat his breast,

Yet he cannot choose but hear:

And thus spake on that ancient Man,

The bright-eyed Mariner :

« But now the North wind 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 wondrous cold:
And Ice mast-high came floating by

As green as Emerald.

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.

The Ice was here, the Ice was there,

The Ice was all around :

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

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 hailed 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 steered us through.

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 perched for vespers nine,
Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white

Glimmered the white moon-shine."

« God save thee, antient Mariner!

From the fiends that plague thee thus !
Why look'st thou so ?"-"With my cross bow

I shot the Albatross."

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