Coleridge Samuel Taylor - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon! Eftsoons his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye The WeddingGuest stood still, And listens like a three years child: The Mariner hath his will.
The Wedding Guest The WeddingGuest sat on a stone: He cannot chuse 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.
Red as a Rose is the Bride The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.
Red as a Rose is the Bride The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she; Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.

The WeddingGuest he beat his breast, Yet he cannot chuse but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his oertaking wings, And chased south along. 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.
The Ship Fled the Storm And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald.
It was Wondrous Cold 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, Like noises in a swound!
The Ice was All Around At length did cross an Albatross: Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in Gods name.

It ate the food it neer had eat, 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 mariners hollo!
The Albatross 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, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus! Why lookst thou so? With my cross-bow I shot the ALBATROSS.
I shot the Albatross

Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed 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! All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody Sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the Moon. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.
The Death-Fires Danced at Night About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witchs oils, Burnt green, and blue and white.
The Death-Fires Danced at Night About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witchs oils, Burnt green, and blue and white.

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.
Nine fathom deep he had followed us 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. Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.